Languages of Love
by Karren
Summary: Stephanie reads the book The Five Love Languages and tries to decifer wich language is some of the Merry Men. She comes across Tank and makes it her goal  to find his. Will she find love in the process?
1. Chapter 1

I do not own anything from Janet; I just love to play with her peeps. I also do not own anything from Gary Chapman who wrote the book the five love languages or any song I choose to use in this story.

PROLOUGE

His massive dark hand slid up my outer thigh and over my hip. His thick fingers dipped into the waist band of my little panties, pulling them off in one fluid motion. His kiss was firm yet everything a girl would want from a kiss. He parted my legs and settled between them, when he entered me, I cried out because of the sheer size of him.

"Ohhhh Tank"

BEEP BEEP BEEP I heard and sat up right in my bed. I looked around my bedroom but Tank was nowhere to be found and he was one you would never miss. Relaxing my fist I had clutching my blanket to my chest, I realized it had just been a dream. I had just had a sex dream about Tank!. God I really needed to end this dry spell of not getting any, now I'm dreaming about TANK! I have got to do something about this; I can't keep dreaming of the guys like this, it's embarrassing.

Getting out of bed I try to shake off the dream that I had just had. Getting in the shower I took care of what needed to be done and then gave myself grief for what I'd actually done. Putting my clothes on, I fed Rex and ran out the door.

Rolling up to the Bonds office door, I parked. I knew it was still a little too early for Connie to open the office up but the book store next to us was open, crossing the lot, I walked in and smiled at Maggie who was behind the counter. Wandering around the stacks of books for a while nothing seemed to grab my attention that I wanted to read. Winding myself around the store I found myself in front of a shelf that read Relationship Self Help.

"Well I gotta do something" I said as I scanned the books on the shelf

"I haven't been with a guy in months and now I'm dreaming of Tank!" I said as I took a book off the shelf

Looking at the little purple book with a heart on it, I read the title "The five love languages by Dr. Gary Chapman"

"Ohhh that's a good book" a woman said next to me

"It is?"

"Oh yes, it helps you figure out what you and your spouse's love language is. Do you know yours?"

"Ummm no, I've never heard of this before" I told her

"Oh then you really need to read that book. When you find out your language it shows you how to speak it then, you figure out your spouses and speak theirs and they yours. It's how to effectively love each other and communicate better to make a relationship work. It really helped my husband and me. We have never connected like we do now and now our relationship is strong and loving" She gushed

"Wow"

"Yea honey get it. It's fun to find out what your love language is and what your partners is"

"Maybe I will" I said "thanks" I told the woman. I wasn't married or anything but it would be nice to know what language I was and what language the guy I was with was. If it's true what the woman said then it would help me have a stronger relationship when I get in one. What the hell, can't hurt can it? Taking the book up to the counter I paid for it and dropped it into my shoulder bag.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

After a long day at work, I returned to my little one bedroom apartment where I jumped into the shower to wash away the dirt that I'd rolled in while I was trying to help Hal catch a skip. Hal didn't need any help but I want to believe I contributed something and wasn't a complete failure. When I came back out from my shower, I felt somewhat human again. I was all clean and in a comfy set of pajamas. When I sat down on my couch I happened to look over to my door and saw the book that I had bought earlier. When I had came in I had just threw my bag down and the book slid out. Picking it up I carried it back over to the couch and sat it in my lap.

"Oh yea" I said remembering why id bought this book in the first place. Getting comfortable I opened the book up to the first chapter and read the title.

"Chapter one- Love Language # 1 Words of affirmation" it read

"Ok let's do this and see what this has for me. Hopefully teach me a few things"

As I began reading the first chapter, I learned that actions don't always speak louder than words. If I find out that this is my primary love language then unsolicited compliments mean the world to me. Hearing the words "I love you" are important but hearing the reasons behind that love sends your spirits skyward. Insults however can leave you shattered and not easily forgotten.

"Hmmm I don't know if that sounds like me. Ranger and Joe have always said I love you and I like to hear nice things but I don't know if it's really describing me"

As I sat there and thought about the chapter I had just read, Hal popped into my head. When I had first met Hal he was the newest and youngest Merry Man I had met. Hal would blush at the slightest of things but quickly became my friend. I love Hal; he is big, strong, and very very kind when he doesn't have to be a bad ass.

My thoughts continued to stay on Hal. I thought back to me telling him in the truck after we dropped the skip off with the cops how great I thought he did in capturing the S. O. B and when I gave him a kiss on the cheek he blushed but his whole demeanor changed and he was happy. I think Hal just might be a words of affirmation guy.

The Second Chapter's love language was Quality time. Nothing says I love you like full, undivided attention. Being there for this type of person is critical, but really being there with the TV off, fork and knife down, and all the chores on hold makes your significant other feel truly special and loved. However distractions, postponed dates, or failure to listen can especially be hurtful.

I can really relate to this one. God how I remember some of the times when id be almost done fixing my hair for a date with Joe only for him to call and say "Sorry Cupcake I was called in on some type of case". Or when Ranger would come over and we would be making out, RangeMan would call and then I'd get a "Sorry Babe" and he would give me one final kiss and disappear as mysteriously as he arrived. Maybe quality time is my language. I never knew it until now, hmmm interesting.

The third love language I read about was one called Receiving Gifts. At first when I read the title I was thinking YES this one is mine I can go out and get stuff but after reading the chapter I understand what it really meant and I don't know if it really describes me.

The act of receiving Gifts in love languages isn't for the Materialism; the receiver of gifts thrives on the love, thoughtfulness, and effort behind the gift. If you speak this language, the perfect gift or gesture shows that you are known, you are cared for, and you are prized above whatever was sacrificed to bring the gift to you. A missed birthday, anniversary, or hasty thoughtless gift would be disastrous, so would the absence of every day gestures.

"Hmm" I said thinking on it and I read the description of this love language. "I know this isn't for me I don't think. At Christmas time I hate to have to go and get gifts for everyone"

I thought back to the Christmas when Diesel came around for the first time. It was close to Christmas and I haven't even gotten a tree yet, or wrote out cards, or shopped for any gifts, I was a complete loser. Lula told me to do what she does just go in a buy a bunch of stuff and then divide it out when you get it home that did sound like a good idea.

While I was thinking of gift giving Ranger and Lester came to mind. Ranger always took me out to the finer restaurants, had the finest wines, and sometimes gave me a very expensive gift. It wasn't that I didn't like the attention given to me but it always made me feel so uncomfortable accepting it. In all reality I'm just a beer and pizza kind of gal.

Lester whenever we would work together always brought me coffee, doughnuts, or my fave Tasty Kakes, and he would always call me Beautiful. Yea I could see them being gift givers by what they do and the smiles they have when I accept their gestures.

Acts of service was the next language in the book. I immediately thought of all the guys at RangeMan when I read the title. They all have gone above and beyond the call of duty to keep me, the citizens of Trenton, and our country safe.

Acts of Service is anything you can do to ease the burden of responsibilities. If you do this to the person it will speak volumes. The words he or she most want to hear is " let me do that for you" Laziness, broken commitments, and making more work for them tells speakers of this language their feelings don't matter.

"Wow" I thought. This language describes all of the guys. They have put their selves in harm's way and they take on that responsibility so we, the others don't have to. I guess in a way I have a little of this too because I go in and lure out the guys who have committed some kind of crime and help get them off the streets but Ranger and his team deserve all the props here.

The last language I read about in the book was called Physical Touch. Reading this title got me to squirming as I thought about some of the physical touches id received from a certain Cuban bounty hunter/ security expert. I refocused on this last chapter and forced my raging hormones down so that I could finish reading.

"This language isn't all about the bedroom" I read out loud "Bummer"

A person whose primary love language is physical touch is not surprisingly very touchy. Hugs, pats on the back, holding hands, and thoughtful touches on the arm, shoulder, or face can all be ways to show excitement, concern, care, and love. Physical presence and accessibility are crucial while neglect or abuse can be unforgiveable and destructible.

"OH MY GOD THIS IS RANGER" I screamed reading about the many different touches

"I found his love language" I said thinking back on the many times he'd cupped me cheek, touched my back with his hand, and just feeling him around letting me know he was there was thrilling

"Wow" I said and then a huge yawn escaped

Yawing again I looked up at the clock on my VCR/ DVD player and saw that it was one A.M, I had read the entire night. Laying the book down on my coffee table, I stood and stretched before turning off my light. Crawling into my bed, I thought about what I had read. I wasn't sure if id found my love language yet but some of the guys I had. Rolling over I closed my eyes and allowed the sand man to do his thing.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Being at work this morning was brutal. First I read the book I had bought till one in the morning and then second I tossed and turned all night because I had dreams of some of the guys again. In one of the dreams I had, I was out on a steak out with Hal when he dropped me back at my car, I thanked him and told him what a good job he had done. Instead of his usual blush and cheek kiss we ended up kissing all hot and heavy. The last dream I had was a reoccurring dream, I saw the dark hands traveling up my thighs and me, I was in pure heaven. I didn't get to see who it was in this version but I knew whose body those hands belonged too. Why was I dreaming so much of Tank? In all the years of being around them he is the one I'm not real close to. I love and respect him but honestly he scares the shit out of me. Finally not being able to think anymore, I jumped out of bed and hopped into the shower, my trusty shower massager waiting to once again take the place of the man that isn't in my life.

When I was clean, dressed, and somewhat satisfied, I rode my elevator down to my car. As I turned the engine over the radio came on blaring an old eighties song that I hadn't heard in years. As I listened while I drove to the bonds office, I quickly realized what it was and shut it off. After two nights of sex dreams about the guys and two about Tank, I just couldn't stand to listen to These Dreams right now, it was hitting to close to home.

"Jeeze Steph what's up?" Connie asked as I stumbled into the office

"Huh? Nothing why?"

"You're all flushed and tripping all over yourself"

"Oh just a song that brought back some memories that I don't really wanna think about right now, do you have anything for me?" I asked hoping she's say yes so I wouldn't have to go to Haywood to work and face the guys.

Ranger and I had an agreement. When the bonds office work became slow or nonexistent then I always had a desk at RangeMan for whenever I needed it, but right now after the dreams I've been having I really didn't want to go work for Ranger today.

Connie shuffled the files on her desk and checked her computer "nope sorry Steph looks like the criminals all caught a case of the consciousness, they all showed up and checked in"

Damn I thought to myself when she told me. I really needed to work rent was coming up and Rex needed new shavings for his home and some food. Placing my hands into my jacket pockets, I slunk back to my car.

"I really don't want to go there today" I said thunking my head onto my steering wheel

"But I need a place to live and Rex is a little helpless hamster, I can't let him live in filth and starve"

I cranked the engine over in my car and pointed it towards Haywood. I was really hoping that the guys I dreamed of would be out when I got there. Sliding down the ramp of the underground garage I parked and sucked in a breath. It wasn't that I hated they guys or was scared of them, well most of them it was just dreaming of them and then actually having to see them was the thing. Trying my hardest to be invisible, I skittered across the parking lot to the elevator.

"Hey Bomber" Cal called out as I walked past the monitor room

"Hey" I said with a quick wave in his direction

I made it to my cubby without running into Hal or Tank, sitting down I buried my head into the monitor of my computer as it booted up. After about an hour of reading a mind numbing search, I felt my eyes begin to droop.

"Coffee" I said getting up and stretching

"Damn Beautiful" I heard as saw Lester standing by my cubby door smiling at me

"Coffee" I told him as I walked passed him

"Bad night?"

"Yea I didn't sleep well"

"Well have it a pot was just made"

"Great"

Sitting in the RangeMan kitchen with my mug of hot liquid gold, I was really hoping the caffeine would soon kick in. From reading the book all night and then the dreams I had, I was dead. As I sat there waiting for the buzz, I watched the floor and the guys interact with one another.

"He is physical touch" I said when Lester walked by "or was it receiving gifts?"

"Bobby I'd say acts of service. He helps when you're sick or injured" I said as I watched him walk down the hall and knock on Rangers office door

The other guys I tried to analyze but I wasn't sure about since I hadn't spent a lot of time with them like I had with the core team. I looked down and my coffee cup to see that it was half empty and yet I wasn't anymore awake than I was when I came in here.

"Looks like it's gonna require two cups of coffee" I said draining the rest of my cup in one big gulp

Scooting my chair out to get another cup, I looked up and saw Tank as big as life come into my view, my mind immediately remembered his hands running up my thighs and pulling my undies off. Feeling my heart begin to race, I quickly looked away.

"Oh my God" I whispered as I felt my face redden

After a minute of commanding myself to relax, I told myself over and over it was just a stupid dream it didn't mean anything. Chancing a look at Tank again I felt myself being drawn in. I watched as this man, this massive man walked around the floor checking in with the men. He was everything his name said he was but there was not an ounce of fat on him, he was all lean hard muscle. My eyes traveled down his body and a shiver ran through me as I wandered what his hands were really capable of doing to me. And with that thought I wanted, no I needed to know the guy that scared me to death, the guy that was as mysterious as Ranger or more, the guy that had been silent for way to long.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

~ At the heart of mankind's existence is the desire to be intimate and to be loved by another ~

Now that I've decided to find out what makes Tank tick, I needed to figure out how in the world I was going to accomplish that. If I all the sudden just started hanging around him and acting like a love struck teenager then he would know that something was up and close up tight. Tanks smart, he knows that I care for him but he also knows that I'm not all that close to him as I am with the others.

"How do I go about this?" I ask myself while I watched Tank retreat into the Tank cave that's was his office

"I must be crazy to think I can get him to open up"

I sat back in my chair, my second cup of coffee long soon forgotten, but to tell you the truth I was now fully energized and wide awake. I took in a huge breath and let it out slowly, I was thinking hard on how to wiggle myself into Tank's life and get him to notice me and not kill me. With Ranger, Lester, or any of the other Merry Men it wasn't hard to get them to notice me because you could see and know how they felt but with Tank I don't know if he even thinks of me like that. You never know what Tank feels or cares about, little is known about him and he made it that way. I've seen him talking with Ranger and I've seen him speak with the men but other than that I couldn't tell you but just a smidgen of stuff that I know about him.

I made my way back to my desk to resume the search that I was reading before I went for coffee. Maybe I was hoping that while reading the search, I can come up with something and think of a way to approach Tank.

"Come on Steph think" I said as I clicked the mouse "he is just a normal red blooded American male"

"Yea right a big man with lots of muscles that could break me in half with his bare hands"

OHHH those hands I thought as I was reminded of the dreams I had, the ones of his hands running up my leg and causing me to moan in ecstasy. I wasn't scared of him then on the contrary I was in heaven and he was the one that took me there.

"Yea but those were just stupid dreams" I said to myself as I got up and retrieved my print out

I sat back down at my desk and signed my name on the form that I had just printed out. I couldn't focus on my work I was so wrapped up in trying to come up with something that would allow me to get closer to Tank. I tapped my pen on the pile of papers that sat in front of me, lost in deep thought.

"Bomber?" I heard and looked up to see Lester standing there looking at me

"Huh?"

"What you doing? Looks like you were a million miles away"

"Oh just thinking about how to do something and can't figure it out"

"I'm sure it will come to you"

"Yea let's hope" I said as I drew my attention back to the screen

As Lester walked away from my cubicle to go to parts unknown the thought of me reading my book and figuring out that Lester liked to bring me gifts when I would work with him. He always brought me stuff like coffee or donuts and he even shared in them with me without Rangers knowledge.

"That's it that's what I could do, I could use my book on Tank. It does say that once you know the language of the other person it opens a line of communication and brings each other closer to the other one" I said the light bulb going on over the top of my head

"But what is Tank's?" I asked thinking about some of the stuff I knew about him

I looked up and stared at his office door willing the answer to come to me but knowing it wouldn't.

"Gahhhh I have no frikken clue what Tank's could be he is so closed off and lets no one in really, I think he could be worse than Ranger"

I thought more on the little purple book that was sitting on my coffee table in my apartment. The more I thought on it the more it seemed to be a good idea to base my plan on, kinda like the outline of my mission.

"First thing is I gotta figure out what his language is. I guess I'll just start with Language number one and then experiment through the list until I find the one that suites him. Then when I have that figured out I can speak it to him when he's around" I said working it all out in my head. I briefly wondered if this is what goes on when Ranger and the team gets Intel on something, do they sit around and think on plans and then brainstorm on how to do the mission? Well I know they do some because I'm in on some of those planning stages.

"Ok operation Love Tank is a go" I said as I looked up at his office door again. Tank was safely secured behind that door "he's not gonna know what's hitting him"

Now that I had a plan in place, I rushed through my work so that I could go home for lunch. Not because I had some fabulous food there to eat but I needed to get my hands on the book and read the first chapter over again. When I finally made it into my apartment I threw everything I had brought with me onto the floor and rushed over to the couch grabbing the book and flipping it to the first chapter.

"OK its words of Affirmation" I said as I read "well that shouldn't be too hard"

I read the chapter as I put together a peanut butter sandwich "ok it says that the tongue has the power of life and death and an anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up"

"All righty" I said dropping a piece of my crusts into Rex's aquarium "now how do I do it?" I asked as I flipped the page

"Ahhhh with encouraging words, kind words, and humble words" I said as I read

Before I closed the book, I read the little side note that was printed in the middle of the page it said if we are to develop an intimate relationship, we need to know each other's desires. If we wish to love each other, we need to know the others wants. I hoped this is what happens as I do my little experiments. I must have gone crazy to go after the big guy the one who is Ranger's best friend and walks behind him incase snipers try to get at him, but if I succeed in my mission the rewards could be very highly enjoyable as I remember the pleasure he gave me in my dreams.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

When I got back to Haywood, I found the boss man himself sitting in my cubby with his feet up lounging behind my desk. Sitting my things down, I stood beside my desk asking him without words what he was doing here.

"Nice lunch Babe?" he asked

"Yea it wasn't anything spectacular but it will do, so what's up?"

Ranger sat up in the chair and placed his feet on the floor" I have a job for you, well actually two jibs if you're interested"

"What are they" I asked sitting down in the extra chair that was in my cubby

"A distraction tonight" he said

"Ok and?"

Do you remember the redecorating job you helped me on a few years ago?"

"Yes" I said nodding my head letting him know that I in fact remembered

Several years ago Ranger helped me out by giving me jobs to broaden my horizons and one of the jobs he told me was a redecorating job. When he picked me up very early that morning, I knew something was up then and then when I saw the three large men in the back of the car that I had never seen before. Later after Ranger told me what this job really was I found out the three men were Bobby, Lester, and Tank.

After the formalities and instructions were over, Ranger and the guys all suited up and headed for the druggies apartment. People screamed and ran everywhere when the door was kicked in and Tank threw one of the guys out of the window causing my heart to fall into my feet. Later that night I'd agreed much to the annoyance of my then boyfriend Joe Morelli to take a shift with Tank to make sure none of the druggies came back to the apartment but we all know how that ended, it ended with a Bang!

"Babe?" Ranger said

"Oh sorry I was just thinking of the redecorating job I did with you guys"

"Fun stuff huh?"

"No! I thought Tank killed that guy when he threw him out of the window and I thought he was dead when the guy came back and shot him"

"So that a no on the job then?" he asked me

"No that's not what I'm saying. Where's this place at and what will I be doing?"

It's right on the edge of Stark kind of close to the one you helped on actually"

"Great, you know I still get a high pitched ringing in my ears every once in a while and I'm sure it's from the building blowing up"

"Babe" he said giving me one of his almost smiles " After the distraction tonight we will all meet and figure out who will do the first shift, so you can go home now so you can rest and prepare for tonight if you want to"

"Okie doakies" I said grabbing my bag

"Come back around nine and we'll head out"

"Got it" I said turning and swinging my hips out of my cubby

When the time came I got ready for the distraction like I always sis but this time I put a little extra care into what I was wearing and how I fixed my face. The reason wasn't for the fugitive; he would hopefully be so sloshed that he wouldn't care if I wore a burlap sack. My reason for looking a little better was for Tank, I wanted to see if I could get a rise or any kind of inkling from him that he noticed me. If he did then I knew how I could help along my plan but if he didn't show any response then I knew my task would be harder than I thought. Finishing up my makeup and hair, I headed out the door to meet up with Ranger and the guys.

When I got into the underground garage all the guys that were going with us were all walking around, talking, and leaning back on the cars. When I parked and got out of my car all the talking stopped and a chorus of cat calls and whistles erupted. A grin crossed my face as I walked up to Ranger who was looking me up and down and Tank who was standing dutifully by his side who gave nothing away of how he felt seeing me walking up in all my sluttyness.

"Babe"

"Ranger" I said looking him straight in the eye

"All right lets go" he announced and all the guys scurried to their vehicles "Steph your riding with Tank and me, this is a normal go in, strut your stuff, and lure them out job"

"Yep"

"You thought anymore on the second job?" he asked me as he walked with me over to his SUV

"Yea ill do it. I'm due for a blown up building it's been a while"

"Babe" he said shaking his head "we're going to try to keep this building in tact this time"

"OK but I'm making no promises, you know me" I said as I opened the car door and climbed in. When I got myself seated and situated I looked up and saw Tank in the driver's seat and I swear he had a smile on his face probably from remembering the last time we did a redecorating job together. Thinking about it for a minute I knew how I could approach Tank, sitting myself up I leaned forward and planted my face between Ranger and Tank.

"So how about it big guy want to try it again?" I asked and saw him go white a little

"Try what?" his gruff deep voice asked

"Want to take the first shift with me tonight to watch over this building Ranger told me about? It can be sorta like redemption for us because of how our first job went"

Tank looked over at Ranger who stayed still in his seat and kept his eyes on the road that was before him. "Um sure Bomber" he said when he didn't get any response from his boss and friend. I smiled and sat back in my seat as Tank turned into the Blue Fish's parking lot. We had gotten several people out of here before, you would think they'd learn but nope they usually fell for it every time.

"Great now Ranger doesn't have to set up the first shift" I said as Ranger picked out the wire from the box. I saw Ranger grin but quickly hide it when Tank looked over at him.

After a series of mic checks and a few wire checks from me we were ready to go in. Ranger and Tank jumped out of the truck and got into their positions on each side of the door. Taking in a big breath, I smoothed my hands down my clothes and then fluffed my hair a little.

"OK here goes" I said as I began my walk to the bar's door. Before I went in I looked over at Tank and gave him a little smile. He looked a little surprised to get attention from me and I chuckled a little as I opened the door to the dark smoke filled bar.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

The distraction went off without a hitch, the only thing that went wrong in my opinion was the guy we had gone after was a little more handsy then I would have liked. When I finally got him to agree with me to go outside to have some "fun" I felt like I had been with ten different men all at the same time. I definitely felt the need to go home and shower the filth off me but knowing after this we were to wait in the parking lot for Ranger, I dint see a shower in my near future.

"You ok?" Ranger asked me as he finally made it over to the truck where Tank and I were waiting

"Yea but he was an octopus, he had hands everywhere"

"You two still doing the shift tonight at the building?"

"Yep" I said looking over to the big hulking man that was standing next to me with his arms crossed over his wide chest, leaning against the truck.

"Yes" he said giving his head a slight nod

"I don't need to run through anything do I?"

"No I got it" Tank said

"Yea Ranger" I said linking my arms around one of Tank's big ones causing him to snap his head in my direction and look at me "Tank has it all under control; after all he is your second in command at RangeMan he knows all the ins and outs of everything you got going on"

Ranger quirked an eyebrow as he looked between Tank and me. Tank gave a look at him telling him he didn't understand either what was going on. In all my years of knowing Ranger and his men I'd never gotten this close to Tank and here I was touching him somewhat intimately and singing to Ranger the praises of how well Tank knew the job.

Well I was telling the truth, Tank and Ranger have known and been together for a very long time, I don't think there is another man around that Ranger trust's as much as Tank. He trusts him with his life and he also trusts him with his company. When Ranger is gone, Tank slips in as the boss and it run as efficiently as if Ranger had never left.

"Ok I'm heading back to Haywood, call me if anything goes down" he said and looked at me when he said the last part. I knew I should have been offended at what he said but hey who am I kidding, I'm a magnate for disasters. Tank and Ranger did one of them complicated handshakes and fist bumps and then we were left alone to head over to the building to keep the crazies from coming back.

"Ready?" Tank asked me as he pushed off from the truck

"I guess ready as I'll ever be" I told him as he opened the passenger's side door for me

When I sat back into the seat and pulled the seat belt over me, Tank shut the door and jogged around the truck to the driver's side. As I watched him come around the front of the truck I was reminded of when I asked to drive he told me that women only drive in his bed. Shaking off that thought, gave myself a little pep talk.

"OK remember kind words and humble words" I said remembering what the book said about words of affirmation. When Tank climbed in and started the truck up, he turned to look out the back window as he backed out of the spot he was in, in the bar's parking lot. When he successfully backed out he turned to sit back in his seat, when he did his eyes caught mine and I gave him a smile. Tank studied me for a minute and then gave me a small smile back.

"You know you should do that more often" I said as we stopped at a red light

"What?" he asked me

"Smile, you have a nice one"

"Oh uhh Thanks" he said pushing on the gas when the light changed to green

"You and Ranger don't smile a lot but when you do, I think you all are very handsome" I said and he looked over at me serving a little as he did. I guess no one has ever told Tank that he was handsome before.

"Well in our line of work and being in the service together we don't have a lot of things to smile about" he explained and I nearly fell out of my chair when he spoke a complete sentence.

"I know you have probably seen a lot of bad and horrible things but there has to be something that you can think of or see that brings you joy or a smile at the end of the day to remind you that it's all gonna be ok. Ice cream? Pizza, ummm ummm kicking someone's ass?"

"Ha-ha" he broke out in a little laughter "Even though it feels really good to stomp on someone that isn't doing right or hurting someone that is completely innocent and littler than them, it really is just something that comes along in the job and used to keep us safe too"

"There's not one thing that gives you a moment of joy and makes you smile when one of them ass stomping days happen?" I asked

I watched him and saw his shoulders slump a little, his hands tightened around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned a little white. Tank let out a breath and spoke.

"well when I come home after a rough day or just after any day my cats come running to me when I get home, that always makes me happy because they need me and want me" he said and I smiled, Tank loved his cats " but there is one other thing that bring some happiness to me"

"Awe that's great Tank, I know your cats must love to see you when you get home, I know you're a great cat dad" I said and I think I saw him blush a little "what's the other thing that brings you happiness?"

"Yea big guy what's the other thing?" we heard a familiar voice fill the car

Tank went still and his blank face slammed down. We were doing so well. I felt I was making head way with getting closer to Tank and Tank was opening up and actually talking.

"SHIT SANTOS" I yelled "HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING THIS WHOLE TIME?"

"Beautiful you're transmitting. Everyone on the distraction can hear you if they kept their units on" he said and looked confused at the car's calling system.

"Huh?"

"Your still wired" he told us and I looked down at the blouse I was wearing

"Shit" I said as I started unbuttoning the shirt letting my breast fall out as I searched for the damn wire

I felt the truck violently swerve and looked up from my search to see Tank struggling with the wheel to keep the car on the road. Well well what do you know Tank does get hot and bothered I thought at I ran my hand down the front of my bra and began yanking the little wire and the cord free from my breast, but who wouldn't when you have a woman half naked touching herself sitting next to you?

"Dammitt" I said twisting around in my seat "Tank"

"Yea?" he asked clearing his throat

"This stupid thing is wrapped around my waist and I can't get it free, can you help me?"

"Uhhh"

"Please"

Tank pulled the truck over to the side of the street and got out. He came over to my side where I was outside also trying to get the stupid wire free from my body. When Tank neared I stopped struggling to let him get it loose.

"Here" I said giving him the little microphone part

I watched as Tank brought his hands up and went for my bra but then quickly put them down again, he then brought them back up and put them down again.

"Uhh"

"Its ok just do it or we are gonna have Lester in our ears all night"

When Tank placed his hands on me to thread the wire out of my bra and around my waist, I locked eyes with him. He had sweat running in lines down his bald head, he was nervous. I was nervous to and a little turned on, as he touched me I thought of his hands in my dreams compared to the real ones. They were gentle and soft not something you would think of the big man who could snap people in half with his bare hands. When he got the wire off and handed me the small box that was at my waist I brought the mic up to my mouth.

"Les if you can hear me I'm going to kill you" I told him. Lester had ruined what we had accomplished. There was no way now that Tank would ever open up to me anymore tonight if ever.

We both silently returned to the truck where I made sure to pull the plug on the wire and toss it into the back seat. I looked over to Tank as he turned the truck on and pulled back out into the stream of traffic he was back to all business Tank with that damn blank face on that they all had. Les might have ruined tonight but he did do one thing, he allowed me to feel Tanks hands on me and just from that one thing I wanted more.

"Well scratch Words of affirmation of the list" I whispered to myself as we parked in front of the building we were going to watch for the rest of the night. "One down, four more to go"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

It had been a few weeks since the distraction and the surveillance shift that I had done with Tank. It had also been a few weeks ago that I decided and started my plan to get closer to him but that wasn't working out so well. After we got back from watching the building, Tank disappeared, he was still around in his usual capacity but he was closed off, he always was but now it was more so. After Lester's little stunt of listening in on our conversation Tank felt like all the guys that went on the distraction heard him talking and I believe it embarrassed him. I don't know if anyone else besides Lester heard us and if they did they never said anything to me about it. The more I sat and thought about the situation the more I felt bad about it. I knew after all that I was wired, I had done countless distractions before and I was always wired for them. I should have remembered to take it off when the job was over and Les should have told me first that I was still wired when he had heard us. All in all it was just a huge fuck up all around.

Sitting at my desk after swiping a sandwich from the kitchen, I looked around to make sure no one was watching me. Satisfied that all the guys were busy, I slipped out the love language book out of my bag to see what the next language was and what my new task to get closer to the man who tormented my dreams were. Torment or haunt them is exactly what he has been doing ever since he touched me while he was helping me get the wire off. Each night Tank will come and invade my dreams and now that I've had a small taste of how it feels to be touched by him my dreams have gotten more intense. Fanning myself with my book, I took one more look around the office to make sure no one saw me just get overheated, settling down, I flipped to the next love language and immediately felt defeated, there was no way I was going to be able to accomplish this one.

"Quality time" I said as I read over the name of the chapter

"How in the hell am I supposed to do this one?"

I sat back and read some of the chapter in hopes it would give me some kind of idea on how I could go about this. It old me that sitting on the couch watching TV wasn't such a good idea because you needed to give your undivided attention and you couldn't do that with TV. I thought it sounded like a nice way to spend time but maybe I was wrong, it probably was right for normal people but Tank isn't what you'd call a normal kind of guy. I kept reading to see what suggestions they'd have.

"Ok it means taking a walk, going out to eat, and really talking to each other. Sitting and giving each other sometime without interrupting to ask about each other's day" it suggested

"Yea but I'm dealing with Tank, if I just happen to walk up to him and ask him out to dinner or for a walk he will look at me like I'm crazy" I said flipping through a couple of pages of the chapter

"Hmmm a central aspect of quality time is togetherness. I don't mean the proximity.. Togetherness has to do with focused attention" I said reading the little footnote that was printed on the page

Again it kept hitting me that Tank wasn't your average normal guy and we didn't have an established relationship like the model couples in the book. I studied the information and thought about how to use it on Tank.

"You know it says sitting on the couch and watching TV isn't a good idea but with Tank I think at this point is a great idea. He's already been humiliated by Lester for hearing us talk so going out and into a public place wouldn't be a good idea. He wouldn't be able to relax thinking and feeling everyone was watching him. Tank would feel like the center of attention and after the incident I know he wouldn't want that.

I sat the book down and thought it about it some more. I slipped the book back into my bag and told myself to just do it, pull up your big girl panties and go talk to him now.

Standing up I smoothed my hair into place, fixed my clothing, and I grabbed a file off my desk that needed to be turned in. I did this because I didn't want the guys wondering what I was doing knocking on Tanks door when I never did that before, this way when they see the file they will think and know that it was work related. Taking in a big breath and letting it out, I carefully made my way over to Tanks office door talking to myself and going over what I wanted to say and how I wanted it to be said.

"What?" came his gruff reply as I knocked

"I uhh have a file for you" I said as I opened the door and stepped in

"Add it to the pile" he said never looking at me, typing away on his computer

"There's something else I needed uh wanted to talk to you about"

"What?"

I closed the door and walked over to his desk "When you and I did the surveillance shift a couple of weeks ago" I started and he stopped typing "well I had a good time talking to you, we had a good conversation going before Santos ruined it, and and I'd really like to do it again. I'd like to get to know you better; we never hang out like the rest of us do so I'd like to invite you over for beer, pizza, and a movie"

I waited for a few agonizing minutes for some type of response from him but I didn't get any back from him. I watched as Tank placed his fingers back to his keyboard and begin to type. Feeling that I and my request were being dismissed, I painfully walked over to his door willing the lump and the tears that I felt I had to go away. When my hand touched his door lever I made my mind up then and there I was going to chuck the plan to get closer to Tank out the window, it was obvious he didn't want anyone or anything near him.

"Wine" I heard a sound come from his direction

"Excuse me?" I gasped thinking he spoke

"I like red wine"

"Sure I can get some, it will go well with the pizza, anything else?" I asked really surprised he had accepted my invitation

"What time?" he asked not looking at me

"Seven" I said smiling

Tank never said another word; he just nodded his head and went on typing. I don't know how he was feeling but I was floating. I had conquered the beast and gotten Tank to give me a second chance, who knows if this goes well maybe we can spend some time talking and maybe go out for a little dessert like the book suggested.

Now what in the world are we gonna watch?


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Finally getting home from the wine and spirits store, I slid the wine that I had bought into the fridge to chill before Tank came over. Going over to my junk drawer, I pulled out the various restaurants menus that I had collected over the years and sat them on the counter; I know I promised Tank pizza but if he preferred something else then I would be game too. Now turning my attentions to my apartment and realizing that I only had an hour before he was to arrive, I did the mad dash around the place picking up things and making sure that no undies or any embarrassing things were out to be seen.

"Don't know why I bother picking up half of the time when any of the guys come over they see it far worse than this" I said thinking of the many break in's that I've gone through

Once I felt satisfied that my place at least looked decent enough, I flopped down on the couch to catch my breath, cleaning was hard work. Picking up my remote that was sitting on my coffee table, I turned on the TV to watch until Tank came. As I looked at the TV I realized I had never picked out a movie to watch, jumping up from the couch I ran over and began going through my movies.

"Shit, I haven't looked through these to see if I had anything good to show" I said looking at each DVD as I placed it beside me on the floor

"We could just watch Ghostbusters" I said as I read it when I picked it off the shelf "Nah I don't think Tank would be too much into Ghostbusters besides everyone knows that's my favorite movie he probably is expecting it so I need to change it up and surprise him"

I went through all the movies that I had on my movie shelf under my TV and nothing seemed to fit for this occasion. Most of my movies were what the guys would call chick flicks, id usually get a pint of ice cream, throw one of them on, and yell at the screen when I was pissed at Ranger or Joe for something. Getting frustrated and panicked that I had nothing to show Tank, I grabbed the last video that was way back on my shelf.

"Heyyy this will do" I said turning over in my hand reading it "I haven't seen this movie in a long time. Come to think of it I always think of Ranger and the Merry Men when I see it" I giggled and then jumped when a hard knock came to my door

Looking up at the clock on my wall I saw that it was seven p.m. on the dot. Getting myself up out of the floor I smiled and shook my head at the punctual timing all the guys seemed to have. Tossing the movie onto the coffee table, I checked my peephole to make sure it was my guest, seeing it was indeed Tank; I unlocked my door, and opened it.

"You're right on time"

"You did say seven" he answered back

"Yep come on in" I told him as I moved away and had him follow me into the kitchen

"I know I told you earlier that we would have pizza but I took out all my other menus in case you would like something else"

Tank looked over and saw the stack of menus on my counter, he probably grimaced on the inside with how I eat out all the time or he could be thanking his lucky stars that he didn't have to try any of my cooking. As he looked through all my menus I took two wine glasses out of the cabinet and retrieved the wine that I had bought earlier out of the fridge and poured us both a glass of wine. As I sipped at my wine I watched the big man in his black RangeMan uniform who probably had just gotten off from work read over a menu he had picked from the stack. As I looked at him some more I noticed that he almost took up the entire space I had in my kitchen, a lot of Rangers men him included took up most of my kitchen space. Tank held up the menu for me to see and then slid it over to me.

"I think Pizza is ok, I haven't had a good slice of pizza in a long time" he said in his deep baritone voice that seemed to reverberate thru my kitchen and thru me

"OK pizza it is" I said smiling at him as I took the menu and grabbed my phone to place our order

"Thank you for coming over tonight" I told him as I handed him his glass of wine and watched as he took a gulp

"You're welcome"

"It's just been really bothering me how it ended between us the night of our distraction. I mean we had a really nice talk going and then Santos had to ruin it and we didn't get to finish what we were talking about. And we have never hung out like a lot of the guys and Ranger does and I don't know a lot about you"

"You're scared" he said and a little of my wine dribbled down my chin as I nearly choked

"What?" I asked as I mopped up the dribble with my fingers

"You've always been scared of me that's why we haven't ever talked of hung out together"

"That's not true. The rest of the Guys are just as scary as you and I hang out with them all the time" I said and Tank raised an eyebrow " ok ok you scare me a little" which was a big lie he scared me a lot

"Only a little?"

"All right a lot" I admitted "but it's all your fault and you can't blame me for being scared of you. When I first met you, you didn't talk and you looked big and scary. Ranger told me he used to have you walk behind him to keep the paid assassins from shooting him in the back, what am I to think? When I have gotten to know of you more I know you're a good man but you're still big, scary, and mysterious"

I watched as pain shot across Tanks eyes "That's why I don't say much and keep to myself. I scare a lot of women and men. People are afraid of me and it is my job to scare them so I guess I do it well"

My heart ached for Tank as he told me the reason why he was the way he was. I got the feeling that people being afraid of him wasn't the only reason for him being like this, I felt something must to have hurt him bad to be so closed off, I mean Ranger and the others have bad pasts but they are way more sociable than Tank. As I stood there and watched as he sipped his wine I felt bad about being one of the people that was scared of him and now I believe more than anything that once you peel the many layers of Tank you'd find buried behind the walls he has build up a gentle lovable man and I aim to find that man more than anything now.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8

Tank and I continued to stand in my kitchen drinking our wine. There was an awkward silence stretching between us and I was searching my brain trying to come up with something to say to him, I opened my mouth to say something and when I did there was a knock came to my door. I watched as Tank on auto pilot put his hand to his waist and palmed the butt of his gun.

It probably just our food" I told him reminding him that we had ordered some

I walked over to my door and stretched my body up and peeped out of my little peephole to see a young kid standing there holding a pizza bag waiting on me to come to the door.

"It's the pizza guy" I said looking back at Tank seeing him relax marginally. I guess once you're trained to be a look out and second in command of a security firm you never fully let your guard down.

I opened the door and the kid opened his bag and held out the pizza box and the sides that I had ordered "twenty two fifty" he said and then went wide eyed as he looked behind me

"Ok just a sec" I said as I took my pocketbook off the peg that it was on next to the door

I felt the air around me change and then felt someone pressed up against me. Before I understood what was happening a large dark arm came around me and placed a wad of cash in the kid's hand.

"Keep the change" Tank said as the kid looked at the money and smiled, I guess Tank must have tipped him well.

The kid handed me the food and bid us a goodnight. When I shut the door I just stared at Tank who stood there looking at me "why did you do that?" I asked "it was my place to pay for this; I invited you over for pizza and a movie"

"Yea but a gentleman always treats a lady" he said as he took the boxes from me and looked around my apartment "where do you want this?"

"Over on the coffee table is fine, we can just sit and eat there. We don't have to be all that formal"

I watched as Tank took the food and walked over to my couch and sat the pizza down. I shook my head and walked over to him and grabbed the movie that I had placed on the table for us to watch.

"Have you ever watched this?" I asked holding the DVD up

"What is it?"

"It's called Speed, its stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. It's about a bus that is rigged with a bomb and it's driven around the city because it has to be kept at a certain speed. It reminds me of you guys" I said with a little giggle

"Us?" he asked quirking an eyebrow

"Yea."

"How?"

"Well I'll show you" I said opening the case and popping the disk out

I went over to my TV and punched the open button on my DVD player and inserted the disk into the player. As it closed I walked back over to Tank and told him to sit as I took the remote and hit play. When the movie started I opened the boxes that contained our food, we were gonna feast tonight we had pizza, wings, and bread sticks. Grabbing me a slice of pizza I looked over at Tank and gave him a look that told him he should relax and grab something too. My message was received when he leaned over and took a slice of pizza and began to eat as the movie played.

"See" I said as we were half way into the movie " Those guys rolling up on the flat bed reminds me of you all" I said tossing an eaten chicken wing bone into the emptying box

"How come?" he asked

"Well it's like Ranger is the lead guy Keanu which I don't think he looks like him but anyways he is the lead, the head man like he is now but if you want my real opinion if there was ever a movie happening that needed someone to play Ranger my money would be on the Rock. You guys are the ones that are rolling up to help him, you guys dress in black and they are all dressed in black. Also that guy Mack the one Keanu talks to reminds me of you, he is like the second in command telling him what's going on ahead of them"

I looked over at Tank to gauge his reaction to what I was telling him and at first he didn't do anything then gave me just a little bit of a crooked grin causing a smile to cross my face.

"I know, it's stupid" I said scooting back on the couch being full now and getting into a comfortable spot to watch the rest of the movie. Tank shifted next to me and placed his arm across the back of my couch; I didn't really think about it and leaned into his side and placed my head onto him.

"I'm sorry" I said sitting back up a little when I felt his body tense up "I shouldn't have just laid on you like that"

"Umm no it's umm its ok" he said and I looked up at him

"You sure?"

"Uh yea so are you Annie?" he asked and I narrowed my eyebrows at him

"Are you Sandra in this movie?"

"Ohhhhh uhhh I never thought of that before" I said leaning back into him, carefully watching Sandra to see if she had anything that resembled me.

"Well it's just that you have Ranger in there and us in there so where are you?"

"I never" I began to say but stopped when Keanu and Sandra started kissing after they slid on the door panel away from the bus blowing up

I don't know what happened but at that moment the air around us changed, it was tense. I didn't have any explanation as to why it happened. "Ranger always gets the girl" Tank said as the scene played and I felt like this was his way of getting me off the trail of trying to figure out why the make out scene caused him to react that way. I would let it go for now but I would file it away with the other tidbits of info I was keeping and finding on Tank the man of mystery.

After the Movie was over, I got off of Tank and stretched my body because of how I was all cuddled up on him. Tank stood up and began to pick up the mess we had made and I told him that he didn't have to do that, that I would pick up later.

"Would you like to go out for an ice cream?" I asked him testing the waters and hoping he would since this night seemed to be going well

"I really need to get home. I need to feed my cats, they are probably wondering where I am"

"Oh ok, rain check?" I asked

"Uhh ok"

I walked Tank over to my door and thanked him for coming over tonight that it was fun and that we should do it again. He smiled at me and kissed me on the cheek, it wasn't a kiss of love or passion but it was nice and it made the place tingle where his lips had landed.

"Thank you Stephanie, see you at work tomorrow" he said as he walked out into the hall "I'll stay until I hear you lock your door" and I nodded my head

"Ohh uh Tank?" I said as a thought came back to me

"Yea?"

"When we were talking in the truck a few weeks back you said that your cats made you happy when you came home because they always ran up to you when you got home and they made you feel wanted and needed"

"Yea"

"But you also said that there was something else that made you happy and you never got to tell me because of Les butting in what was it?" I asked

"Ohhh uhhhh welll "he started stuttering

"Come on what was it, don't stop now we just had a nice night and we are friends now"

I watched as Tank looked down at his boots and then at the carpet in the hallway. He would look anywhere but at me.

"You" he softly said and then walked down the hallway into the stairwell door. I stood there shocked, rooted into place by his admission. I never would have thought I would be one of the things that made Tank happy and feel good when he had one of them as we called it kick ass days. Finally finding my footing I closed my door and locked it making sure all the locks were locked for Tank even though he was gone. I leaned back against my door and a huge smile broke out as pride swelled inside my heart as I thought of being one of the things that made him happy.

"Maybe there is hope yet" I said as I pushed off the door and went to pick up the leftover food and throw away everything that was empty.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9

Waking up this morning when my alarm sounded was hard. Last night I invited Tank over for pizza and a movie, when he was leaving he admitted to me that I was the other thing that made him happy when I asked him. We had talked about this a few weeks ago on our way to the building that we were going to be watching but we never got to finish the conversation and he never got to tell me what the thing was and because of what happened for him not to Tank closed himself off and has been a very hard nut to crack.

After Tank admitted what he had admitted to me he left, probably embarrassed that he let emotion show. I was in such a state of shock, so much so that I couldn't move out of my spot for a bit. I never would have guessed after all the years of hanging around him that I would have such an impact on the big man's life. He never ever showed any inkling of this to me or to anyone that I know of, I'm sure with how the office is someone would have said something or teased about it. I knew that he genually cared for me and kept me safe since they all seemed to believe I belonged to Ranger but I just figured it was because I was one of them and not something else entirely.

When I was finally able to move from my spot, I locked the door and pride filled my heart when I realized that he loved me and that I meant more to him than one of the guys. But what have I or had I done to make him feel this way about me? And that's why I am so tired, I spent a lot of time laying in bed feeling happy and thrilled and thinking about what he said but then a few moments passed and I was hurt and my heart fell when I remembered what Ranger had told me about being amusement and entertainment for his guys, was that what Tank had meant all along?

I laid there a few more minutes thinking about that and then finally forced myself to get up and dragged myself into the bathroom hoping a shower would help wake me up and feel better. After my shower, I dressed, did the girly thing, and left for work. As I pulled into my spot in the RangeMan garage, I sat there a minute getting a grip onto my feelings before I went up to my cubby. I didn't know what to expect when I got up on five, would Tank shy away from me because of what he said or would we just go about our day as if nothing was said?

I was conflicted, I wanted to believe that what he meant was that he really cared for me but I kept having this gnawing feeling in the back of my head that he didn't that I just made him happy because once again Stephanie had blown up a car or rolled in garbage. As the doors opened on the elevator I looked around the room trying to see if Tank was on deck as I stepped off onto the command room floor. Not seeing him, I turned around the corner on my way to my cubby and bumped into him and Ranger as they had came out of the kitchen carrying cups of coffee.

"Babe" Ranger said as his greeting of good morning

"Ranger" I said smiling back at him with the words that he had spoke to me so long ago rang in my head

I looked over at Tank and he nodded his head at me then quickly looked away. I took this as a good sign that he was embarrassed about last night and thought it probably did mean that he cared for me more than me just being some kind of amusement for him. I was gonna push all the bad thoughts about this away, go into denial until I knew for sure, and believe the good in Tank. Even though there is a lot I don't know about Tank, I do know that he's always right there by our sides and that he is an honorable man, so he wouldn't intentionally hurt me right?

When Tank and Ranger left for parts unknown, I made my way into the kitchen to grab me some breakfast and coffee. As I took my food back to my desk, I turned on my computer and watched as it booted up. I intentually looked thru the files that were in my inbox for the one that would take up the most time, that way I could start the search and as I was waiting for it to scan and print, I could sit there and eat. As I hit go on the search I picked out, I took a sip of my coffee and forked some egg stuff into my mouth. As I sat there, I remembered my love language book in my bag and fished it out to read as I sat there waiting on my search.

"Language number three Receiving Gifts" I said deciding to go ahead and move to the next language since quality time seemed to go so well. I believe I'll keep making the effort to hang around him some now since we did last night but it won't be that weird to him if I continue too, but I think I can go on in my quest to know Tank.

"if your partner's primary love language is receiving gifts, you can become a proficient gift giver, it is one of the easiest love languages to learn" I quietly read so no one could hear me "well good I'm all for easy" I said as I scanned the pages to get some ideas on how I could execute this one.

"Gifts can be purchased, found or made" it said "it also can be the gift of one's self"

"Hmmmm what could I do or get for Tank? I asked myself searching my brain

I sat back in my chair and thought but nothing came to mind. I didn't know what I could go out and buy Tank, because making something for him was out of the question. I caused my mother great pains for my inabilities as a homemaker and caused her to get out the iron because I was not good at making things or doing things like cooking and baking.

"Dammit this is supposed to be the easy one" I said huffing

"Beautiful you ok in there?" I heard Lester ask beside me

"Uhh yea" I said quickly hiding my book in my bag because I knew he would pop his head over my wall or he would come over and I didn't want everyone to know about the plan I was doing and if Lester found out that's exactly what would happen.

"What's supposed to be easy" he asked as he came around and leaned his body against my doorway

"Ohh just a gift I need for something. I have no idea what this person likes"

"Oh well I hate to go shopping, I guess that's why I don't ever do it" he said and I stuck my tongue out at him

"Smart ass"

"Just do what you girls do best go to the mall and walk around I'm sure something will pop up for you"

I hated to admit it but that was what it looked like I was going to have to do. I wanted to give Tank something but I also didn't want it to be stupid. I wanted him to be surprised and know that it was special just for him and that I took the time to look around and get it for him. I wanted him to feel loved and cared about and that it was me that cared and loved him.

"I'll go tonight after work" I said and then my search dinged letting me know it was ready for me to read through.

"Whelp I know that sound so I'll let you get to your work" Les said as he pushed off my doorway

"Yea, yea" I sighed as Les walked back over to his desk to do whatever he was doing. "Looks like I have a date with the mall" I said as I began scrolling down the page on my computer.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10

Standing in the middle of the Quaker Bridge Mall, I had absolutely no idea on where to go or what to buy Tank as I stood there scanning the stores around and above me. This was not like when I come to pick out some sexy lingerie at Victoria Secret's or shoes for myself from Macy's, this was a gift for a guy that I almost knew nothing of and had to convey everything that I wanted and needed to say in this one gift. What do you get a guy like Tank? I had no clue where to even begin; it wasn't like he was into the latest fashion or collected something like candles. All he ever wore was the customary RangeMan black and mostly kept to himself. Uggg this was so frustrating.

At a time like this when I didn't know what to do, I'd fish my phone out of my bag, call someone, and beg them for their help. If this was a gift for a baby shower I'd call my sister, she has kids she would know and tell me what a kid needs and if this was a wedding shower gift we all know who I'd call for that one, my Mother. She lives and breathes weddings, she would jump at the chance to educate me on the proper gift and pray it would cause me to want to plan for my own wedding. The only people I thought about calling that may be able to help me on Tank were Ranger or one of the guys but I really didn't want to do that. I didn't want them to know what's going on yet, if anything at all.

"I don't know, I give up" I said after plopping down on a bench outside of the mall pet store, spending several hours walking and looking through all the stores but coming up empty

"Guess I'll just grab Rex's pack of shavings and go home. Easy Language my ass, I don't know what in the world to get him, I would get him a nice book but I don't know if he even reads, I can't get him a shirt because all he ever wears is his uniform, and I can't even just get him something for his home because the closest I've came to his home was taking Lula there when they broke up"

Feeling irritated and defeated that I couldn't come up with something, I walked into the pet store and went over to the small pet's isle where they kept the bedding and cages. Picking up a ten pound bag of shavings, I made my way to the checkout counter.

"Is that all Ma'am?" the guy behind the counter asked me

"Yea unless you sell something for a man I know but don't really know and I need something to let him know that I think he's special" I said flopping the bag of shaving down on the counter and receiving a weird look from the checkout clerk

"Sorry uhh I don't think we sell anything like that here" he said scanning the barcode with his little hand held device

"Didn't think so" I said and then remembered that I was out of Rex's hamster crunchies "ohhhh hold just a sec I just remembered I'm out of my food too" I said dashing back to the small pet area and grabbed a box of food for the little guy.

While I was hurrying back to the counter with rexes food, a little girl and a woman that I assumed was her mom came out of a small room that looked like a little closet. In the arms of the little girl, I saw her carefully holding a small black cat in her arms; she looked down and smiled happily at it. I screeched to a halt as I watched her lean her little head down and give the small black kitten a kiss on the head right between its little ears.

"Aww mom can we please buy it some food and toys?" I heard the little girl ask as she looked back at the woman

"Yes we have to buy a lot of things for our new kitty"

The little girl with the little kitten scampered off with her mom over to the cat isle in search of all the things for the new member of their family. I stood there thunderstruck that I hadn't remembered about the cats. Tank loved his cats, it was the first thing he told me when I asked what made him happy, later her admitted that I to made him happy but it was his cats first. Looking of to where the Mother and her little girl were happily going through cat things an idea formed in my head.

"Ummm hold on" I called to the clerk who was staring at me wondering why I had just stopped in the middle of the store

I rushed over to the cat isle and began looking through all the different things they had for them. I knew this is what I wanted to get Tank but I just didn't know what to get, there was millions of things for cats.

"Now how many does he have?" I asked myself as I picked up some kind of vibrating mouse

I picked up several different kinds of toys and some packs of cat treats. I had my arms loaded down and ran to the counter where the clerk was watching me and probably thinking I was some kind of crazy person. I laid all the things down and pulled out my credit card, thanks to Ranger and RangeMan I didn't even flinch when my purchases were finally rung up.

"Looks like you had that present after all" I told the clerk as he bagged up all my things referring to the earlier question I had asked him

"Good, that will be thirty two fifty eight" he said and I handed him my credit card

"Thank you"

"No thank you" I said as I walked out of the pet store with a little more swing in my step

After running next door to Hallmark for a gift bag, I was excited to go into work tomorrow morning to give my gifts to Tank. I tried to imagine his face when I came into his office with a gift bag full of cat goodies and what he would think and do but it was hard since it was Tank after all.

I was so thrilled that I had finally gotten something that I felt Tank would love and it would show him that I took the time to do something for him that I thought I would get myself a little treat in the mall's food court to celebrate. Coming up to the counter of one of the many food vendors I ordered.

"One vanilla and chocolate swirl cone please" I said when the girl came over to me

I watched as she turned her back to me and took a cone out of a box that sat by the machine. She held it with one hand and pulled the lever of the machine with the other making a perfect swirled cone. As I saw the ice cream come out of the machine and into the cone, I was struck with another idea.

"Ummm excuse me I'm so sorry but I need to cancel my order" I told her as I turned and hurried off to get to my car as quick as my legs could take me.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 11

OK its official, I have lost my ever loving mind. What am I thinking driving over and sitting outside the house of a man who is a highly decorated serviceman and second in command of a very lucrative security firm, not to mention who could scare the crap out of you just by looking at you.

Crazy that's what I am, even though I am closer with Tank I certainly didn't have the comfort zone I have with Ranger to casually come over for a visit. For all I know Tank could be sitting inside his home with a gun trained on me just waiting for me to make my move. Looking over at my passenger's side seat, I saw all the bags that I had bought. Removing Rex's shavings and his box of food, I placed all the cat toys and treats into the gift bag. Sitting back in my chair, I sucked in a big breath and let it out slowly.

"Well it's now or never. If I don't go now the box of ice cream will melt more than it has already" I said as I slipped the bags over my arm and pulled my door handle to get out

Before my feet ever touched the concrete road in front of Tanks house, I was violently yanked out of my car and shoved face first into my car. I was so scared of what was going on that I struggled to get myself up to see what was going on. A low menacing voice spoke into my ear.

"You got one second to tell me what you're doing here before I put a bullet in the back of your skull" I heard the gun cock sending chills down my back

"TANK" I yelled in hopes that he would hear me screaming all the way inside of his house

"Bomber?" I heard behind me and everything went dead still for a few moments as we collected ourselves

"Tank?" I calmly asked as I slowly turned around to come face to face with the big man himself. He was the one who had grabbed me and pinned me to my car.

"Shit oh my God Stephanie" he said lowering his gun and uncocking it "did I hurt you are you ok?"

"I'm fine, scared shitless but I'm ok" I said slumping against my car as the adrenalin was crashing

"I'm sorry" he said now that he realized that I was of no threat to him

"No it's my fault actually. Your Ranger's buddy and work at a security firm as the next in charge so of course you've got your house all monitored and rigged"

"I never get visitors. To see a car come to my house…"

"Yea" I said his no visitor's admission hurting me. He really is a great guy.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ice cream" I told him as I held up the bag that contained the box which was still in my hand even after my encounter with Tank

Tank knitted his eyebrows together and looked at me, I sighed and began explaining.

"You were over at my apartment watching the movie and when it was over I asked if we could go out for some ice cream" another way to spend good quality time together "but you said you needed to get home so that you could feed your cats and I said rain check"

Tank watched me intently.

"Anyways I thought since we couldn't go out for ice cream I decided to bring the ice cream to you but it's probably all melted now" I said looking into the small grocery bag at the sweating carton.

Tank took a step forward and took the bag of melty ice cream from me "want to come in and meet my cats?"

"Yea if you're ok with it. I actually bought them something too. I couldn't remember how many you had so I think I went a little overboard"

"You bought things for my cats?" he stopped and looked at me

"Yea you said they were one of the things that made you happy and I just wanted to make them happy and show you that I listened to you and that I care"

Tank didn't know what to say to that one, he stood there dumbfounded. I don't think he's used to have someone throw attention his way; he probably just hung back and let the other guys get and have the girls.

"Can I meet them now?" I asked causing Tank to come out of his stupor. Good I caused a stupor in a man, yaa go me!

Tank led us up the front walk to his house where he punched a code into a hidden control panel at the front door unlocking it. Once inside he punched another code into another keypad that locked us in and kept out the burgerlers. I thought I was all a little excessive but hey what do I know my apartment gets broken into all the time it's the norm for me.

Tank led us down a small foyer into the main room of his home the living room and I was surprised and amazed at how well it was decorated and kept. It wasn't Ranger standards by any means but it was still very nice.

"I'll take this into the kitchen and see if any can be saved if not we'll have mine" he told me as he disappeared around the corner

While Tank was gone I took this time to look around his home. He had a lot of pictures hung on the wall and a lot of little framed ones on the mantel of his small fireplace. Looking at the pictures and being so engrossed in seeing a part of Tanks life that no one probably has ever seen before, I jumped when a voice shattered the quiet of my exploration.

"Do I pass?" he asked

"Pass what?"

"The home inspection"

"Oh" I said looking away blushing "yea I didn't mean to snoop but I was looking at all your pictures. I can recognize some of the ones in your military ones but are all these your brother?" I asked him about the slew of pictures of the same boy hanging on the wall.

"No I am the only child" he said watching me

"Really! So all these pics are of you?" I asked surprised

"Yes"

"But your do little and think and not Tank"

"I didn't start out like this" he said and I felt like a fool, of course he hadn't "I was born into a lot of poverty and my dad left us at an early age. Growing up where I did was rough. Since I was a puney kid and didn't have what all the other kids had I got made fun of and teased a lot. I was tortured in school by kids who thought they were better than me, but it was all right I had my Mom who loved me and always told me that I could do anything"

"She really sounds great"

"She was"

"I'm sorry" I said as I realized that he had said was and not is

"It's ok. Mom got really sick when I was in fourth or fifth grade and I watched her just wither away. When she died I was sent to live with some relatives who weren't nice at all and I was punched and knocked around"

"Ohhh Tank" I said as my heart broke for him hearing his story

"When I got older I swore that no one was gonna ever punch and push me around again. So I started working out and bulking up and when I could I left and went into the service where I met a lot of the guys you know of and I became…"

"Tank" I said finishing it for him because I felt it fit. He may have been going to say something entirely different but Tank was all that needed to be said.

"Yea" he said looking over his pictures "At first I got off on it because I scared everyone and that's what I wanted. No woman would ever come near me and the men I guess they just knew better. I became a fighting machine and no one got in my way and I liked it but now"

"Now your growing older and see that there are something's you've missed out on and now you would like to have a part of that back but you don't think you can so you just keep to yourself and figured there was no hope for a man like you"

"Yea" he quietly said

"No" I told him as I took my hand and slowly touched it to his bicep. Turning to look at me I saw the pain there that I had seen in my apartment earlier. Without hesitations or fear I placed my arms around his large frame and hugged him. I felt Tank tense up like he had when I cuddled up next to him during our movie but I was determined this time not to pull back and apologize for doing it to him, after a few minutes I felt Tank's massive arms slowly come around me and hold me to him. I wanted him to know that there was someone willing to like and care for him. When I came here I never expected him to open up like he has but now I was more determined to show him that he doesn't have to be alone anymore.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 12

Standing there in Tanks arms, I felt so safe, so protected, so warm, and cared for. At this very moment I couldn't picture anywhere else I'd rather be then in right here wrapped in his arms. I hoped that Tank really gets that I care for him and he will always have a friend in me. I however would like to become more than friends but I don't think Tank is ready to go that far yet. Ever since I started the plan to get to know Tank , I have grown a little crush on the big guy and would love to move it forward with him but I'm not sure if he is as into me as I am him.

"Steph?" I heard him ask

"Hmmm?"

"Are you ok?" he asked me which caught me off guard

"Yea sure, why?" I asked wondering what he was talking about

"While we were standing here everything was going fine but just now I felt your body tense up and then it sag"

"Ohh, no everything's ok. I don't know why I did that" I lied to him. Everything wasn't fine; I was falling in love with a man who admitted to me that I made him happy and just shockingly opened up to me a little about his life. You would think we were moving along together and the next step would be to get together but that's not what is happening. I should be happy, thrilled even that I accomplished my goal in finding what made Tank tick but I'm not, That stupid thought about me being entertainment to the guys is creeping in, stealing my joy that I should be feeling. Did Tank really mean that I genially made him happy or did he actually mean what Ranger has said?

"You sure?" he asked me letting me go from his embrace so that he could look down on me

"Yea, so where is your kitties I haven't seen them since I got here, I brought things for them? I asked deflecting the attention off of me and on to his cats

"They're in my bedroom. I put them in there since I didn't know that was you sitting outside my house. I didn't want them to get hurt if you turned out to be an intruder"

"Ahh" I said. Tank really loved his cats

"I'll go let them out now, they're probably wondering why they are in there since I usually let them have full reign of the house"

"How many do you have?"

"Three, all females" he smiled

I watched as the big man made his way to the back of the house and heard the door to his room open. I listened as he spoke to the cats and grinned thinking about how odd it looked for a big bad ass man like Tank to have cats and love them like he does. If you saw Tank you wouldn't think that about him, all you would see would be a big man that could crush you with his bare hands, shoot you and take you out without a sound, and make you pee yourself just because he walked into the room.

I thought about the time that Ranger asked me to help him find out who was breaking into his accounts. I was all cozy sleeping in his bed when he called and said there was another break in and he wanted me to come have a look at it, he also said that Tank was downstairs in the garage waiting on me. After another round of coaxing and a threat that Tank had a key and would drag me out of the apartment I did as I was asked. When I told Tank I was in a grumpy mood he let me see a picture of his cat. When Ranger found out he laughed at Tank but I thought it was rather sweet he would try to make me happy and be in a better mood.

"I was just thinking of the time when Rangers accounts were being broken into by those two kids. You showed me a picture of your cat to help put me in a better mood" I told him as I watched three little cats wander around Tanks and my feet.

"Yea I thought all girls thought a kitten was cute and would get you to smile" he said and I was shocked again that he said something like that that had so much meaning behind it

"So which one was it, in the picture?"

"It was probably Miss. Kitty; she is the white Persian that just jumped up on to the couch to lie down. She is the only cat I can get to sit still enough to take a picture the other two are always on the move"

I looked over to Tanks couch and saw a beautiful long haired white cat turn around in circles and then lay down. She looked like she was at total peace but she always had her eyes trained on me.

"The one that has its head stuck in your gift bag is Apple Puff" Tank said pointing to the gift bag I had brought in and sat down in the floor. When I looked over to where Tank was pointing I saw a little Tabby cat with its head all the way down into the bag.

"I guess she figured out that the toys and snacks were for her"

"She's always been the nosey one. I bring my bag home from work and she has her head in it as soon as I lay it down" he said and I grinned at the little Tabby with its head still in the bag

"And this one is" Tank said picking up a gray kitty that was rubbing itself on his legs "is Suzy"

"Hello Suzy is it ok to pet you?" I asked the cat and then looked up at Tank for permission

"Yea it's ok" he said and I began to pet her on the head then started to scratch her under her chin. Tank smiled when Suzy stretched her head up so that I could scratch more of her neck.

"She likes you"

"Good I'm glad because I would like to become your friend like I would your Daddy" I said as Suzy began rubbing and head butting my hand with her head

"We've always been friends Bomber" Tank said while he let Suzy down to be with her sisters

"Yea we've always been cordial and friendly towards each other but I'm talking about the intimate level of friendship like I have with the others"

"You want to be my friend?" he asked me

"Yes Tank I do" and more I thought but one thing at a time

I watched as Tank studied me for a minute and began to worry what he might be thinking, he was so into his own little world that I was beginning to think he was going to actually tell me no.

"I think I'd like that" he finally said and I felt a wave of relief wash over me

"Great" I said as I looked up into his warm chocolate brown eyes

"Would you like a drink?" he asked me

"I would love one"

I followed Tank into his kitchen and watched as he moved around it with ease. He looked so relaxed and confident here, it was just amazing. Tank pulled a bottle of wine out of his fridge and brought it over to sit it on the counter between us. I then watched as he reached up and plucked two wine glasses out of an over head cabinet filling each with the same amount of liquid.

"To Friendship" he said holding his glass up

"To Friendship" I said smiling at him as I clinked my glass with his


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 13

Taking the glass of wine that Tank gave me, I took a sip and felt the bitter liquid slide down my throat. Looking down into my glass of the deep purple liquid, I instantly felt the heat of the alcohol come over me. Smiling over at Tank who was watching me over his own glass, I took mine and wandered back into the living room where I sat down on his couch and watched as he came in carrying the bottle sitting it down on the coffee table in front of us.

"This is pretty good" I said taking another sip as Tank eased himself down on the couch next to me

"It's not the best but it will do"

"I would have thought you for a beer man. I've seen you and the guys share a thing of beer after a takedown"

"I like beer and I have some in the fridge but wine just seemed to fit this occasion" he said looking over at me

I watched Tank as he lifted up his glass to his lips and took a drink. I had to stifle a giggle as I noticed how small the crystal glass was in his big hands.

"I like wine too; I guess you can say it's in my blood"

"Oh?" Tank asked

"Yea my heritage"

"What is your Heritage?" he asked which shocked me because I figured everyone knew that about me already

"Italian and Hungarian. My Dad is Italian and my Mom is Hungarian" I told him as I drank more wine

"So who is responsible for your blue eyes?"

"My Mother"

"Ohh" he said sadly " I've never liked your mother much because of the way she is always trying to get you to stay with one man when you clearly don't want to but I've always thought they were pretty on you" he said and I nearly choked on my wine. I never in a million years thought he would say something like that

"You know about my mom?" I asked finally getting the wine to go down and finding my voice

"Yes I know a lot of things not just about work either. I guess when your quiet and stay to yourself you see and hear a lot of things that no one else does"

"I've never been one to be quiet and still" I said and saw Tank smile

"I know"

"Steph look I'm sorry for what I just said about your Mother I had no right to say something like that about her to you. Let's just face the fact I'm no good at this talking thing" he said sighing and letting his shoulders fall

When I heard what he said about not being good at talking I had to stop him because he had been doing so well, I didn't want him to put up his wall that I had put some cracks in again. Sitting my glass down on the coffee table I scooted closer to him, invading his personal space, and laid my hand on his arm.

"Tank, I think you're doing a wonderful job in talking to me. Since I've gotten to hang around you more I found out that you like wine, you love your cats, you like a good pizza, you said I made you happy, and just from the hour I've been here I found out you were a little boy who was born into some hard circumstances and that you became who you are today from them. I know it's been hard to open up but if you just continue I'm sure you'll get the hang of it and it will become easier for you"

Tank looked over at me and I saw the pain etched onto his dark face. Ever since I've started this campaign it has been hard on me to come up with things to get Tank to talk to me but it probably is doubly hard on Tank to actually open up and talk after years and years of not doing so. It probably feels weird to him after scaring people away all this time to have someone willingly show interest and throw attention only onto him.

"When I was a little girl my mom wanted me to be the perfect Burg girl" I started "But I wasn't interested in that I was more interested in catching fireflies, dressing up for Trick or treating, and pretending that I was She-ra or Wonder Woman or some other kind of action hero"

When I looked up Tank was looking at me intently. His eyes had changed from being filled with worry to being filled with compassion "you're not the only one who has a hard time dealing with things, I live in denial land most of the time and pretend that things don't hurt me when they really do"

"I know they do" he said sliding his hand over mine that still lay on his arm "how could they not. I've seen you walk off when something gets too you and you need a minute to pull yourself together. I've seen you laugh with Lester and then when he walks off whatever has you worried your face drop and you look near tears. I've seen you look after Ranger when he comes out of his office to leave and see the pain in your eyes as he walks away" He said causing me too look away because I was feeling so exposed

"We are something aren't we?"

"Yea I guess you can say that" he said draining the rest of his wine in his glass

Tank reached over and took the bottle that he had brought out and refilled his glass. He looked over at me and I eagerly shook my head needing some more after the stuff we had been talking about it was pretty deep.

"Thank you" I said as I took a big gulp of the wine

"For what?" he asked knitting his eyebrows together

"For always watching over me and seeing me when I thought I was hidden"

"If I was really watching over you which I do do because I care if you get hurt or not, but if I was when I see you do the things you do which you think are in private I would have gone over and asked if I could help"

"No you did just what I wanted. I need the moments to get myself together so I can face what's next"

"But you're not dealing with what hurt you and I could have said talk to me if you want. I just .."

"Tank its ok I understand and know now why you're not like the other guys. I didn't want anyone to come to me, I was doing the things in private, or so I thought"

"Ok" he said and I smiled at him and leaned my head over onto his shoulder. Tank surprised me when he moved his arm and placed it around me. He was a little stiff at first but soon relaxed and cuddled me.

I hope with me sharing with Tank something painful from my past and talking about some of the stuff that I didn't know he knew about me, would show him that I to had some wounds that ran deep and caused me to be who I am just like him. I hoped it would cause him to feel freer in sharing and opening up to me. I closed my eyes to enjoy being close to Tank and to enjoy the feelings that his hand was causing inside of me as it lazily swept up and down my arm when a sharp pain like a knife sliced into my arm.

"WHAT THE HELL" I cried out jumping away from Tank and holding my arm with my other hand. When I jumped up I saw Apple Puff jump over Tank who was still sitting on the couch and land to sit on Tanks couch arm.

"Oh God Steph I'm so sorry. I completely lost sight of the cats and she saw my hand moving which I didn't even know I was doing and she attacked my hand. Are you ok?" He asked coming over to me

"I don't know" I said as I looked over and took my hand away to see a red bleeding gash going down my forearm

"Oh man, I'm so sorry come on ill clean that up for you"

Tank took me by the hand and led me down the hallway to his small bathroom. He told me to hop up on his sink so that he could have better access to it as he started pulling things out of his medicine cabinet.

"Do we need to call Bobby to come see if it may need some stitches?" I asked

"Ha-ha no Bomber I think I can handle this" he said taking some peroxide and putting some on a cotton ball "And this is another reason I like you so much"

When I heard what he said I felt tears sting my eyes and threaten to fall. I wasn't crying because of the pain from the cat scratch, I was crying because the thought that I was entertainment to him came rushing into my mind and here he was laughing because I hadn't failed to deliver once again.

"For Entertainment?" I asked as a big tear that I tried to keep from falling fell down my cheek


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 14

It was quiet in the bathroom after my question and I didn't know if Tank was just processing what I had said or if maybe by some chance he didn't hear me. Even though I really wanted to know the truth part of me didn't and hoped Tank didn't hear the question.

"What?" he asked me as he pressed the cotton ball to my arm causing me to hiss as the liquid from hell touched my cut.

"Nothing" I said as he cleaned up the scratch and ripped open a couple of band aids, sticking them to my arm

I could feel Tank looking at me from the corner of his eye as he picked up and put everything back into his medicine cabinet

"Thank you" I told him hopping down from the sink making my way to the door

"Hold it" I heard in a voice that made me stop dead in my tracks. I've heard Tank talk to fugitives before but to hear that voice turned towards me was scary

"You've been going out of your way to hang around me, talking to me, getting to know me better, invited me over to your place for pizza and a movie, and then show up at my house nearly getting yourself killed in the process bringing gifts and melty ice cream" Tank said as I still had my back to him

"We've talked, had some wine, share some painful topics we keep hidden or try to that makes us who we are today and after saying we are friends and after all that now you won't talk to me and tell me what has you so upset? I don't think so"

"Tank" I said closing my eyes "it's nothing, really" I said hoping he would drop it; after all he never opened up or shared anything for years you'd think he'd understand and respect that of me.

"I thought we were friends Steph. We felt safe to share and talk about things. I see my friend upset and she won't share, well I guess I was wrong" he said, shutting off the lights, and walking passed me.

"I don't want to say anything, your apart of the core team" I said and Tank turned to look at me

"Steph I hope you know by now from what you've learned, I'm more than RangeMan. I may eat, sleep, and shit my job but it's not all that I am. You can tell me anything"

"A long time ago when I was hiding from Junkman and I used Ranger's apartment as a kind of safe house, he told me when he got back that everyone liked having me around because I was entertainment for you all and that he listed me as such in his budget" I said and saw Tank's jaw muscles tighten

"When you told me while you were at my apartment that I was one of the things that made you happy I was thrilled, then later Ranger's words came back to me and I thought maybe that was what you actually meant because of the stupid drama I get into"

"Damn Fool" Tank said walking up to me

"Stephanie I've never thought of you that way" he said putting his hands on my shoulders "When I said you made me happy that's exactly what I meant, none of that cryptic shit Ranger pulls. When I come out of my office and see you there laughing and talking to the other guys it makes me happy because you're so care free and light. You have an amazing heart and you made us your friends, No one has showed us an ounce of respect like you do, all we had was each other until you came along and showed us there were people out there that could care for us. You just make me happy no fillers, no qualifiers"

When Tank was finished I was openly crying. No one had ever said something so nice to me before and to come from Tank that was really saying something. Looking up into love filled eyes; Tank brushed my tears away with his thumbs.

"Kinda bothers me that you would actually consider that of me" he said

"I'm sorry Ranger said it and.."

"And you believed him because he is Ranger after all"

"Yea" I said nodding my head

"Ranger is good, I know I've served with him but he does have flaws but to Steph have you ever seen me participate in any ribbing or teasing of you?"

"No"

"That's because I've always respected and cared for you. I got your back"

Smiling at him I wrapped my arms around Tanks waist and hugged him. This time Tank didn't hesitate, he placed his arms around me and held me in a tight firm embrace.

"God I love you" I said it just popping out of my mouth. Lord when I made up the idea to come over to see Tank tonight I never thought I was going to confess being in love with him. I felt so safe and secure in his arms and that was what I was feeling.

"I'm sorry" I said pulling away from him

Tank stopped me from getting away from him and when he did he cupped my chin with his fingers and kissed me. It took me a moment to realize what he was doing but when I did I acted. His kiss was so soft and gentle and I was finding that to be a theme of Tanks. When you see him you wouldn't think he was capable of being soft and gentle but he was. While thinking on his soft touches, I began thinking of his hands and how I wanted to feel them touching me.

"Uhhhh" Tank started to say when the kiss ended

"Shhh" I said drawing him back to me with my arms wrapped around his neck

**A/N The next Chapter will be in the Tank/ Stephanie M Section**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 15

As our kiss deepened, I felt Tanks hands slide down my back and cup my ass pulling me roughly to him. Once I felt his large hands squeeze my backside, I gasped at how pleasurable it was to be handled that way. However when Tank heard my reaction to it he got the wrong impression and pulled away.

"Steph I'm…." he began to say as he realized that he has lost control and gave into touching and kissing me

"No don't you dare apologize or stop" I said coming around to face him "I want this and I want you, please take me to your bed"

Tank locked eyes with me and I saw his whole face change, with a growl that couldn't have been human, Tank pulled me to him and crashed his mouth to mine. As our tongues dueled for control, I felt myself being picked up, my legs on their own accord wrapped around his waist. Tank and I stumbled and fumbled our way down the hall towards his bedroom. When we finally made it and Tank blindly kicked the door closed, we fell into a tangled heap onto his bed our mouths never leaving each other.

"OHHH GOD" I breathed out as Tank trailed kisses from my mouth to my jaw line where he ended up at my neck kissing, licking, and nibbling it

I felt the blood rushing through my ears and through my body with each new touch and kiss that I got from Tank. I was so turned on that I needed him now! I couldn't wait any longer. Unraveling my arms that were around him, I slid my hands down his rock hard torso and started pulling his shirt free from his pants. I needed to feel him and his shirt was preventing me from doing so. Feeling what I was trying to do, Tank sat back on his knees, yanked the shirt over his head, and threw it over his shoulder to the floor. When he came back over me I had managed to get out of my own shirt and bra.

"You're so perfect" Tank told me as he kissed down my throat. The first thought that came to my mind when he said that was to object but when I felt his hot mouth close around my nipple and then felt his tongue flick it all coherent thought fell out of my brain.

Tank took his sweet ole time kissing and sucking on my breasts. He made sure that each one received equal amount and time before he moved on. By the time he was satisfied with the work he had done so far, I was a puddle of orgasmic goo and I wasn't even out of my jeans yet. As I thought about what it would be like when he finally touched me, I felt Tanks hand reach between us and began to work on my pants button.

"YESS" I moaned when he lowered the zipper. I wanted to feel him touch me so bad that I moved my body up into his hand as he parted my pants and slid them down my legs.

Tank's massive hand slid back up my leg and trailed over my outer thigh, running then up to my hip. I felt his thick fingers dip into the elastic waist band of my little panties that I was wearing. He pulled them off in one fluid motion and the vision of the dream I had about him came screaming back as I remembered this was how it was.

"You ok?" Tank asked as I pulled away from his kiss my mind swirling

"Yea I'm fine it just really intense for a second" I told him. I wasn't lieing, I was overwhelming that our first time together was mimicking the dream that I had, had weeks before

"Do you want me to stop?" he asked and I smiled

"No" I told him as I undid the button on his pants letting my fingers dip inside a little

Tank came back over me so that I could push his pants down his hip and reveal inch by agonizing inch of his luscious chocolate skin. When it came a point that I couldn't push them any farther, Tank took over and wiggled and kicked them the rest of the way off, causing wonderful friction from the movements.

"I need you" I said placing a hand onto his cheek

His kiss was firm yet everything a woman would want. Tank parted my legs and settled himself between them. When he entered me, I cried out because of the sheer size of him.

"You ok?" he asked knowing his size was a shock to me

"Yes" I gritted out feeling my body tense up but then relax after several minutes allowing Tank the room that he needed

When Tank slowly began to move inside of me, it took my breath away. He was so gentle yet knew what he was doing and how to make my body react and respond to him. I guess it's true what they say; it's always the quiet ones. After a while of the slow love making, I was ready for more. Grabbing a hold of his head board I ground my hips up into his. Getting my message, Tank picked up the pace and I was thanking God that he lived alone in a house and not in an apartment with how loud the headboard was hitting the wall behind us.

"OHHH GOOOD" I cried out when the familiar swirling and heat began to bubble in my lower stomach

Knowing I was on the verge of going over the deep end, Tank pick up my leg and placed it over his shoulder then did the same with my other leg. The angle of the new position allowed Tank to drive deeper into me and it was my undoing as he pounded mercilessly into me. Holding onto that head board for dear life, I screamed until my throat hurt as my orgasm ripped through me. Seconds after I had the most amazing orgasm, I felt and heard Tank go over as well.

After we were done my body relaxed and I let go of the head board. Tank moved off me and rolled over onto his back bringing me to cuddle next to him.

"Are you ok Steph?" he asked as he moved sweaty hair from my face with his fingers

"Never better" I said placing my arm around him laying my hand onto his chest

Tank laid his hand over mine and that's how we ended up falling asleep, exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster that we have been on all day.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 16

Waking up the next morning it took me a few minutes to remember where I was. But when I stretched and my muscles protested the movement a smile split across my face remembering what happened between Tank and me last night. Turning over to greet my newest lover, I found that the human pillow I had fallen asleep on was nowhere to be found.

Rubbing my eyes and waking up some more, I slid out from under the covers and sat in the side of Tanks bed. Looking over at the bedside table to find out what time it was a picture caught my eye, picking it up I saw faces that were familiar to me yet they were much younger looking then now.

"That one is Ranger, there's Tank" I said looking over the picture "That's Bobby" I said seeing a guy holding a medical bag "and id know Les from anywhere" I giggles and returned the picture to its place

Lifting my eyes I looked around the room for the first time since being in there. Last night I was a little preoccupied to let my inner snoop out and let curiosity get the best of me. Tank had frames of things and several different pictures on his walls, wrapping the bed sheet around me I walked over to have a look.

Most of the pictures were of Tank in the various stages of the Army. Gone was the young stick thin boy who was displayed out in the living room, these pictures were of the Tank we all knew and saw. The other framed that he had hung was of different medals and various awards that Tank had received. Looking at all of these things my heart began to swell with love and pride for this man, that he took bad circumstances and used it to accomplish so much in his life and from the looks of it was a damn fine soldier. Tears formed in my eyes as I tried pondering what he must have went through to fight for America and for the others who were too weak to defend themselves.

I looked down and small wooden frame caught my eye that sat on his dresser. When I picked it up I read the little green and yellow card that was housed inside.

"Army Values" it read over top of it "Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage" This was Tank. As I read the last word I heard a huge clatter come from outside of the bedroom.

Curious to what the sound was and hoping that Tank was ok, I found my clothes and quickly dressed. As I slowly walked down the hall, I could hear mumblings and movement coming from Tanks kitchen. When I got to the doorway I found Tank at his sink with his back to me. I watched as the big man who was only dressed in a pair of boxers take up most of the space in the room. His taught muscles moved in his back as his arms moved in front of him, I had to close my eyes as I wondered if this is how it looked when he was moving inside of me.

"Its ok Steph you can leave if you want. You don't need to tell me any excuses" he said surprising me as he still had his back to me. How he knows I was there, I'll never know. I guess he and the other guys are trained to know their surroundings because they all do that sort of thing and it gets so annoying.

I walked up to him and saw that he was washing dishes; his sink was filled with water and little white bubbles. I turned and stood next to him with my back against the counter. I hung my head and looked at my feet feeling bad that he seemed to be dismissing me. What had changed since last night was Tank having regrets of being with me now?

"You want me to leave?" I asked picking at my finger nails

"Isn't that why you were standing there for so long. Trying to figure out a good excuse to tell me that we made a huge mistake?"

"We didn't make a mistake" I told him "I don't want to leave"

"You don't have any regrets about what happened between us?" he asked wiping his hands off on a dish towel

"None" I said. If only he knew how bad I actually wanted him for so long and of the dreams id had of him he wouldn't be asking me this.

"Good because I don't either" he said running a finger down my cheek and under my chin, lifting it up and giving me the most tender of kisses.

"Would you like a cup of coffee and some breakfast before we have to go to work?"

"You cook?" I asked shocked

"Yea some, but I mainly eat at RangeMan. Saves on money and the cleanup" he said grabbing two coffee cups and two plates from an over head cabinet

"What made you decide to cook this morning?"

"It's not every day I have company and special company at that"

"I'm special?"

"Yes Stephanie you are" he smiled and I felt all warm and gooey inside

I watched as Tank took a pan out from his oven and place two huge omelets onto our plates that he had kept warm. When I saw it was loaded with cheese and meats and came with a little side of potatoes my mouth was watering. Handing me a mug of coffee doctored to the way I liked it and a fork, I hurried over to his small table and dug in.

"Oh my God Tank" I said as he sat down

"Good?" he asked smiling, cutting into his own omelet

"If Ella knew you'd be on cooking rotation"

Tank laughed as we both went back to eating.

"If Ranger only knew" I said pushing away my empty plate

"Something's he don't need to know" Tank said gathering our plates sliding them in to the dish water

"My lips are sealed" I told him gulping the rest of my coffee down and dropping it into the sink as well

"I hope not now" he said placing an arm around my waist and pulling me to him

"After this then they're sealed" I said as our lips met in a long and sensuous kiss

"I hate to say this but I have to go" I told him when we pulled away "I need to run to my apartment to shower and change. All I have with me is what you see me wearing" I said motioning with my hands down my body

"I understand" Tank said as he walked me to the door

As I walked to my car I felt different somehow and I hoped that Tank did too. Driving off to my apartment, I kept this silly grin on my face. I didn't know how it was going to be at work but I had a feeling that Tank would like to be discreet. I didn't know if this was the start of something or not but I hoped it was. Pulling into my parking lot, I parked and ran up to my apartment to shower and get ready to face the uncertainly of the day.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 17

When I coasted down the ramp of the underground garage of RangeMan, my stomach felt a little icky and my heart was beating faster than normal. I had, had a wonderful time being at and with Tank last night but this is a different scenario than being alone in a small house, now we are thrown in to a building full of friends and co-workers. I had no clue what to expect when I rode the elevator up to the fifth floor.

When the elevator dinged letting me know that I had arrived, I hiked my bag up and over my shoulder and kept my head down as I walked to my cubby. When I got into it and tossed me bag down, I saw a long stemmed blood red rose lying across my desk. Smiling and with butterflies in my stomach, I picked up the flower and read the little tag that was tied around it.

"To: Annie Love: Mack"

"Babe" I heard and jumped at the unexpected sound. I was in lala land enjoying my rose.

"Want to let me know why I had a huge pissed off black man storm into my office this morning and handed me my ass over something about you and my budget?"

"Uhhh" I said not knowing what to say and shocked that Tank sought out Ranger

"Who gave you the rose?" he asked his attention diverted to the flower in my hand

"I don't know it was laying here when I came in this morning"

Ranger took the flower from my hand seeing the little tag. Reading it he knitted his eyebrows together trying to make since of it.

"Your names not Annie and I don't employ a guy named Mack" he said tossing it into my little waste basket

"NOO!" I cried going for my rose, Ranger looked at me

"I don't know who did it, it's probably some kind of joke that I'm not clued in on yet but it's pretty and I like it" I said taking my flower and bringing it to my nose

"Babe" Ranger said giving me one of his little smiles " I've got to go, enjoy the rose" he said and he was gone like smoke in the wind

Inhaling the scent of the rose, I looked over to Tanks office door, smiling I began to walk towards it but was intercepted by Bobby.

"Wouldn't advise that Bombshell" he said nodding towards Tanks door

"Why not, something important?" I asked not wanting to bother Tank if he was working on something

"Nah just he and Ranger had words earlier and the big guy isn't to pleasant right now"

"Oh" I said conflicted as to go to him or not. Looking down at my rose I decided to go in and see if I could help make him feel better.

"Bomber" Bobby warned

"Maybe I can help improve his mood" I said knocking and received a gruff ENTER from Tank

"Yell if you need us"

"Will do" I told him opening the door and walking in

Walking inside, I found Tank sitting behind his desk reading over a file. I closed the door and stood with my back resting against it just watching him.

"Hi Mack" I finally said causing Tank to look up

"Steph" he said closing the file and tossing it to the large stack that was on his desk

"Don't you mean Annie?" I asked giving him my best little saucy smile

Tank smiled back as he looked to the rose in my hand "like your flower?"

"I love it, Thank you" I told him as I walked up to his desk

"You're welcome"

"So" I said as I sat on the corner of his desk "I heard you had words with Ranger earlier"

"He shouldn't have said that stupid shit to you" Tank said getting up and walking over to the window in his office his voice cold as ice and his body rigid

I laid my rose down and slipped on of Tanks desk. I walked up to where he was and stood right in front of him, placing my hand onto his arms that were tightly crossed over his chest. I looked up and into hard black eyes.

"Tank its ok; really it doesn't bother me now"

Tanks hard gaze fell onto me and for a moment I was a little scared "your lieing to me Stephanie" he said and I couldn't say anything back to him

"Have you forgotten that you were in my house last night asking me if I actually liked you or did I really mean as Ranger had said that you were just a form of entertainment to us?"

"I remember exactly where I was last night" I said recalling something's so vividly that I was getting hot just thinking of them

"Then" he said touching my cheek "you know that you were in tears telling me what Ranger said to you. It did and does bother you"

"You're right it still does after all these years but I just don't want to cause any friction between you and Ranger or any of the guys"

"You're not. Ranger and I are brothers and we will always be but sometimes as brothers we have to put each other in their place and I just couldn't allow him to say something like that to you and have you believe it, not after what has happened between us"

"And Steph I just wanted you to know from now on I'm not gonna hang back and watch you hurt in silence anymore. I'm gonna come to you and ask if you need to talk and call out anyone I feel or see disrespect you"

"Why?" I asked this being new to me someone willingly wanting to stand up for me

"Because we're friends remember?" he asked as his hand moved from my cheek to my neck and shoulder. I remembered, I had asked him yesterday to be friends but after last night I think we probably crossed over the line of friendship.

"Anything else?" I asked hoping he would say what I wanted to hear as I looked up into his warm chocolate eyes

Tank opened his mouth to answer but never got the chance too as his door banged opened causing us to jump away from each other. We both turned at the same time to see who caused the interruption and found a blushing Hal standing there.

"SPEAK" commanded Tank. I was feeling the irritation too that he had in his voice from being interrupted at such a crucial point in our conversation.

"Sorry" Hal stated "but Ranger asked me to come get you and to find Stephanie. I had no idea she was in here with you" he explained and I starting feeling sorry that he was enduring Tanks wrath. It really wasn't his fault that he interrupted us he was only following his bosses orders; he didn't know that Tank and I had become "Friendly" with each other. For all Hal knew Tanks always been a lone.

"You found us. We will be there in a minute" Tank said irritation still in his voice

"Yes Sir" Hal said quickly shutting the door

"Duty calls" I told him when we were alone again. I was disappointed that Tank didn't get to answer my question or that I might could get a few kisses. I had a pretty good idea that we were now more than friends but still it would just be nice to have it said and spelled out.

"I'm sorry Steph"

"Hey it's ok, we'll talk later"

"Yea" he said on a sigh "don't forget your flower" he reminded me as he walked over and opened his door waiting on me

"I'll put this in my cubby and find you all in a minute"

"Ok"

Tank and I held each other's eyes as I passed him at his door on my way to my cubby. I would have loved if he would have held me in his arms like he did last night and this morning but I understand that RangeMan probably wasn't the right place for that yet. Putting the flower to my nose I inhaled deeply before I placed it on top of my bag and headed to meet up with Ranger.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 18

Walking into the conference room where I found everyone, I straightened myself and prayed to God that with them being all men they couldn't tell that I had had sex recently. I looked around the room and saw that all the core team of RangeMan was sitting around the long rectangle table with Ranger standing at point. He had the projector screen behind him pulled down and aimed his little clicky thing at it to display a picture of a guy on it as I took a seat next to Lester. Hal briefly turned and looked over at me but quickly turned back and looked up at Ranger. Tank looked down the table from his second in command seat at me and I smiled back giving him my patented little finger wave.

"Gentlemen and Steph" Ranger said as he turned to start the meeting

"Information has came in from one of our CI's that one of RangeMan's high dollar skips has been spotted around town and is rumored to frequent Cheyenne's a bar on Stark." Ranger told us as he handed a stack of papers over to Tank who took one and passed the rest on down the line. By the time I received the paper, I saw that it was the wanted picture of the guy that was up on the screen.

"Ricky Scarzetti" I said as I read down the page

"Our pal Ricky here is a mid level drug pusher. Vinnie posted bail and as soon as the doors were opened Ricky ran. Now he's popped back up on radar and Vinnie wants and needs him taken out"

My stupid cousin, I thought shaking my head, of course it was him who bailed him out; he bails all the low lives out. I guess I shouldn't complain though, if it wasn't for Vinnie I wouldn't have had a job or met Ranger and the guys.

"Babe" Ranger said looking down the table at me "will you go in and be our lure and bring Ricky out?"

"Sure" I said and why not I've done plenty of distractions for RangeMan before

"OK" Ranger said looking at the watch that he had on his wrist "everyone here works until five, which gives us two hours to prepare and meet up at the bar at seven. Tank and I will pick Steph up so we can wire her and bring her to the bust" he told everyone. I watched as Tank; looked up at Ranger. I could still see that there was some tension there by the way Tank was working his jaw muscles.

"Sounds good" I said smiling at them both lingering a little more on tank hoping he could hear my thoughts telling him to relax.

The meeting was dismissed and I gathered up my mug shot so that I could study it as I got ready later. I made it back to my cubby and smiled as I saw my rose laying were I had left it. Picking it up I held it and looked at it as I turned my computer on and it booted up.

For a few hours I tried to work on some of the searches that were piled up in my inbox but I was totally distracted, I couldn't focus at all on my work. I would read a paragraph or two of the stuff that I had pulled up on the screen but a word or something I read would conjure up a picture of last night and I would find myself smiling and thinking only about it. Finally not being able to take it anymore, I closed down my computer, took out an empty file folder for show, and walked over to Tanks office.

"ENTER" his voice boomed from the inside when I knocked. Smiling, I turned his door handle and walked inside

"Hi" I said as I closed the door behind me

"Hello" he responded back with a warm smile

"I was just fixing to head home to get ready for tonight and thought I would come by to see my "Friend""

"I don't usually have people stopping in just to chat or to say goodbye" he said watching me as I came over and slid up on his desks corner. Tank gave me this little seductive smile as he scooted over in his desk chair to sit between my legs.

"Well a lot of things have started to change" I said locking my eyes with his and placing my hands over his that were resting on my thighs

"In this version if Mack wanted to win the girl, do you think Annie would want too?"

It took me a few minutes to get what he was saying "Yes, if Mack wants Annie; I believe she would be really happy to be his"

"Only his?"

"Only his"

"Will Annie understand that Mack is pretty new to this relationship thing?" he asked looking down at our hands

"You've been in relationships before" I said breaking character "What about Lula? You and her were together for a while" I said and he stared at me

"Right" I said knowing that my friend had pretty much controlled and manipulated every aspect of their relationship

"So?" he asked getting me back to our real conversation

"STEPHANIE" I said bringing it into reality "will understand but you got to continue to talk and open up to her"

"I will try if you'll help me" he told me sliding his hands up my thighs, around my waist so that his arms were wrapped around me.

"I'll gladly help you" I said earning a big smile from Tank and being dragged off his desk by his strong arms to straddle his legs

I snuggled and cocooned myself into Tanks massive chest, I felt like I just couldn't get close enough to him. I laid my head down and could hear the hammering of his heart against my ear. Smiling I closed my eyes feeling so safe and secure in his arms.

"Stephanie" he asked after a few long quiet moments

"Yea?"

"Are you ok about going after Scarzetti tonight?"

"Are you going to be there?" I asked looking up at him

"Yes, where I always am right next to Ranger" he answered me

"Then I'm fine. I know you wouldn't let anything happen to me or let anyone hurt me and speaking of Ranger I want you to let this tension you have with him go"

"He shouldn't have said what he said to you"

"I know but I care for Ranger too, not the same as I care for you but I do. He is also a big part of my life and you and he are best friends. Like you said he is your brother. We all work here together and will see each other every day so please for me play nice?"

"Ok I've said my peace on the matter, it's over" he said

"Thank you"

Tank and I just sat there looking at each other, taking it all in and wondering if this was real. I watched as Tank raised his hand and pushed the hair away from my face. Closing my eyes I felt his knuckles lightly brush down the side of my face.

"I wish we were over ay my place" he rumbled against me

"Why?" I asked opening my eyes

"Because" he said "I'd really like to kiss you"

"Well you still can, there's nothing stopping you" I said sitting up on my knees a little better so that I could be a little closer to him

"Not here"

"Why?'

"Too many eyes and ears here" he said looking behind me to his office door

"Tank its ok. You're allowed to be just like the rest of them out there, a red blooded American male with wants and needs. You don't always have to be the big silent intimidating type" I told him "well you are but you can be more open and show them you're human too"

"Ok ill try" he said leaning in and capturing my mouth in a slow kiss

"TANK" we heard and then one of the guys started knocking

"SHIT, FUCK ME, WHAT!" Tank growled as our kiss and our time was once again interrupted

"Ranger wants you to come down to Hectors work station and see which mic you think will best fit Bomber tonight"

"FINE IM COMING" he called out and then started mumbling about phone calls and he was the boss why did he have to go figure it out. When he stopped he looked over at me.

"Sorry" I said feeling bad "I guess here there never is a moment to ourselves is there?"

"Nope"

I slid off of Tanks lap and watched as he stood up and started over to his door obviously very annoyed. I knew if I didn't try to calm him just a little some unsuspecting person or Ranger, when he saw him at Hectors was going to endure one very pissed off black man and my money if I was a betting woman would be Ranger.

"Tank" I said stopping him before he opened his door "Remember its over between you and Ranger. And this he had no way of knowing that we were in here and what we were doing, he's only working and doing his job"

"Yea"

"I'll see you tonight" I told him as I stood up on my tippy toes and kissed him

When I left, Tank was on his way to Hectors and I was on my way to the Garage. I wanted to do a happy dance as soon as I got down there but knew that there were cameras and they would capture me being weird and repot it back to Ranger. When I got it my car I sat there and finally did a little happy dance that Tank asked me to be his girl. I just hope we can overcome his feeling of needing to be alone to open up and be with me. I also hope that he will open up more around the guys and succeed at what he's wanted for the last several years, what he's been missing out on, and what he's waited on, Acceptance and love.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 19

I walked into my apartment drenched in sweat. A heat wave had decided to move over Trenton and I had no air conditioner in my car. Hot, wet, and just wanting everything off me, I dropped my purse on the floor, everything scattered, kicked off my socks and shoes, and began taking off my black RangeMan clothes.

"Ranger should be shot having black uniforms in the summer" I said slipping out of the pants and instantly felt a little cooler

Walking into the kitchen in only my bra and panties, I went over and apologized to Rex for not coming home last night and also apologized for not really talking to him this morning when I stopped in for a shower. Opening the refrigerator, I stood there for a few minutes allowing the cool air to hit my overheated skin, taking out a bottle of water; I opened it, and took a huge gulp.

"Much better" I said shutting the fridge door and began pulling out the fixings for a peanut butter and olive sandwich

Biting into my sandwich I sighed thinking about the wonderful breakfast I had shared with Tank. I tore off some of my crust and dropped it into Rex's Tank and finished it off with the rest of my water.

"Well it was good but it sure wasn't an omelet stuffed with gooey cheese and meats" I said of my favorite sandwich

I returned the jar of olives to the fridge and made my way over into my bedroom. I needed a nice long cool shower, not just because of the heat that I endured which did cause me to feel skuzzy but also for the job I had to do tonight. You had to look the part so that meant putting all the effort you would if you were going out on a date or going out to looking for one. You have to look nice, smell nice, and appeal to their certain type of woman if we happen to get that kind of Intel.

I placed my old ratty bathrobe on the hook that was on the back of my bathroom door. I turned on the knobs for the shower and tested the temp of the water with my fingers before I stepped in. Letting a long sigh of satisfaction out as the cool water ran down my body I began to shampoo my hair and lather up my body.

When I my shower was complete and I was cleaned and shaved to an inch of my life I felt like I had done all I could before the magic of hair and makeup. I stepped out of the tub, dried off, and tied my robe around myself. Seeing that I had some time to kill, I walked into the living room to catch up on some TV watching, but when I walked in I saw the mess I'd left at the door, knowing that Ranger and Tank was on their way over I just couldn't leave it there. Scooping everything that rolled out of my bag, I shoved it back into it and then grabbed my clothes that I had taken off. When I picked up my shirt, I found my book lying under it.

"I almost forgot about you" I said picking it up and looking over the purple cover

"Guess I don't need you now since I got Tank to open up and have been invited into his house and heart" I said tossing the book onto my little dining room table

"But" a thought came to me "you haven't found out his love language yet. Wasn't that the whole reason you started this little experiment?"

"Yea but you also say how to communicate and I achieved that, Tank talks to me"

I walked away carrying my wet dirty clothes into my bedroom to throw them into my hamper. When I returned my eyes fell back onto the book.

"Oh all right, guess I shouldn't quit now" I told myself as I grabbed the book off the table and flipped to the fourth love language, Acts of Service.

"Ok it says Acts of Service means doing things you know your spouse or partner would like you to do. You seek to please them, to express your love for them by doing things for them, such actions as cooking, setting the table, washing dishes, cleaning house, or other various chores. They require thought, time, planning, energy, and effort. This shows love to an Acts of Service person"

"Man that don't sound like Tank at all. I mean he gave himself to serve for his country but from what the book describes it isn't about that. He does give himself day and night to RangeMan to rid the streets of Trenton of scum but I'm not sure that according to these descriptions if that even qualifies. Uggg I don't know, m so confused!"

Looking up at the clock on my DVD player, I saw that I had an hour to get ready. Putting the book under my couch, I decided to think about the whole service vs. chores thing later right now I had to focus on picking out the right clothes and concentrate on the job.

"YO" Ranger said picking up as I called him while standing looking into my closet

"It's Stephanie"

"Babe" he said letting me know he knew exactly who it was

"Right, can you tell me what kind of bar this is and what m supposed to wear tonight?" I asked him

"Cow Girl clothes"

"I'm serious"

"I am too Babe, Cheyenne's is a country western bar" he said and my mouth dropped open "Babe?"

"How in the hell am I to pull that off?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something" he said and disconnected. Big help there.

Luckily I remembered several years ago I dressed up as a cowgirl to hand out candy to the kids for Halloween. I rummaged through my closet and came up with some cowboy boots, a big glittery belt buckle belt, and a cowboy hat.

"This will have to do" I said as I began pulling my clothes out of my dresser

Thirty minutes later I was primped and dressed in my best cowgirl outfit that I could come up with. Looking at myself in the mirror, I wondered just how many country people were there in Trenton that would come out to a country western bar. I heard a knock on my door and knew it was Ranger and Tank ready to mic me and head out.

"Babe" Ranger said smiling as he looked me up and down standing there in my skin tight jeans with the wide sparkly belt buckle and tight white tank top.

"Yee Haw" I said letting them in

Ranger took the little microphone out of the little black box and approached me; I looked behind him to Tank who was grinding his teeth when Ranger undid my belt and jeans button, sliding his hand up my shirt to place the mic into my bra.

"You're lucky Hector just got these mini mic's in because with the others they wouldn't work with this tight tank top" Ranger said as he slipped the head of the mic under my bra

"Lucky me" I said pulling away from him and redoing my outfit back up. Note to self wire yourself from now on so there won't be any RangeMan murders.

"I look ok?" I asked making sure my shirt was tucking in everywhere

"You're the best rootin tootin cowgirl I've ever seen" Ranger smiled trying out his own southern voice

I rolled my eyes "Tank what do you think?" I asked putting the cowboy hat on my head. Tank's eyes went wide and Ranger looked over to him

"I think you look beautiful" he said and you could hear a pin drop in my apartment. Never before had Tank been asked to comment or give his opinion on this part of the distraction but I was pleased as punch they say that he spoke what he felt and didn't fall back on some kind of generic answer that kept himself feeling safe.

"We gotta roll" Ranger announced looking at his watch breaking the silence that had hung around us. Tank moved and opened my door, Ranger walked out first with me following him and Tank bringing up the rear ever diligently watching and keeping us all safe.

I sat back in my seat in the truck as we drove over to the bar going over in my head what I might say to Scarzetti once I got inside the bar and met up with him. I was counting on working my female charms, like I always do that has everyone nearly falling all over themselves to go outside with me, to capture him and go home.

"Babe" Ranger said interrupting my thoughts

"Yea?"

"We're here" he told me and I looked out the windshield to see a bright neon sign lit up say CHEYENNE'S

"Ok" I said getting myself ready, looking into my bra to make sure my wire was still were it was supposed to me and that my girls were up and looking perky

"Give us five minutes to get into place. The others are already here watching the back door and the perimeter" he said placing his com unit into his ear and tested it. I nodded my head watching as they opened the truck doors and got out.

"Ok Step" I said to myself taking in a big breath to steady my nerves and letting it out. I watched as the dashboard clock ticked down the five minutes "it's now or never"

I opened the trucks door and climbed out. I wasn't dressed as trashy as I usually am for distractions but I got a couple of cat calls and whistles as walked across the parking lot. As I opened the door, I looked over to see Tank hidden in the shadows and suddenly wished that I had grabbed him and kissed him for luck before I walked in. Giving him a little wink, I opened the door and let the atmosphere of the bar wash over me.

This bar was pretty much like every other bar you would walk into except this one was made entirely of polished stained woods and played country music. The people inside were dressed as I was and I thanked God that I would be able to blend and look like a regular. Cowboys in Trenton, who knew?

Scanning the room and the people my eyes landed on a man at the bar who was dressed all in black. He wasn't dressed like all the other people in the room and he kept his head down. BINGO! I slowly walked over to the bar, sat down on the stool, and ordered myself a beer.

"Man it feels so good to just let my hair down" I said and the man looked over at me and smiled

"Know what you mean" he said

"Stephanie" I said putting out my hand for him to shake

"Ricky" he said looking down at my hand and finally taking it.

"So Ricky" I said what's your story? I can tell you're not like the other people in here"

"No Doll I'm not into that cowboy wannabe shit. This is just a dive I can come to that I don't have to worry about being recognized"

"Ohhh are you a Bad boy Ricky because I sure could go for a bad boy tonight"

"Something like that Doll" he said and grinned

"I kinda sorta have a thing for bad boys" I said leaning over so that he could get a nice eye full of my girls

"Let's get out of here and I can show you how bad I can really be"

"All right" I said pulling out a five from my pocket and tossing it onto the bar to pay for my un-touched beer

Ricky grabbed me around the waist and we walked to the door of the bar. Once we cleared the door Ranger stepped out in front of us and blocked our path. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Tank stepped in behind us effectively boxing us in.

"Wouldn't find you in a place like this huh?" Ranger said "Let the girl go"

"You Bitch" he said looking at me it hitting him that I was in on the set up "You sat me up"

Before I knew what was happening, Scarzetti somehow managed to hit me across the face sending me into the wall of the bar and then down onto the concrete walk way. When I was able to clear the cobwebs and get my bearings, I saw that Tank was on top of Scarzetti with Ranger trying to muscle him off.

"You ok Babe?" Ranger asked as they finally got Scarzetti cuffed and Tank somewhat controlled

"Yea" I said holding my hand to my jaw

All of the distraction team that was around guarding the back door and securing the perimeter descended on us when they got the all clear and took a kicking and screaming Scarzetti off to one of the trucks. Ranger helped me up from where I had landed on the walkway and looked me over. Usually it was customary for me that when a skip got the best of me that I would always seek comfort in the arms of Ranger but tonight it was a different story. Seeing Tank standing behind Ranger, I walked around him and went straight for the arms where I knew I would feel safe and protected. Everybody's mouths dropped as I passed Ranger and stood before Tank. Opening his arms I stepped into them and immediately felt safe and secure as they locked around me.

"Take me home?" I asked looking up at him. Tank nodded and led me over to his truck.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 20

When Tank helped me into the truck, I laid my head back onto the headrest. I jumped and winced as Tank got in and slammed the door too, my head was beginning to bang while my jaw throbbed and felt as big as a softball.

"Mmmmm" I moaned as Tank eased the truck into traffic the oncoming car lights hitting me causing my head to hurt

"You ok Steph?"

"It's my head it's really starting to hurt" I told him shielding my eyes from the lights

"Just close them we'll be home in a few minutes" he told me as I did just as he said effectively blocking out the car and street lights

Once we stopped, I felt a hand gently moving over my hair. I turned my head and squinted my eyes at Tank, seeing his handsome dark face come into view

"We're here. Come on ill help you feel a little better" he said leaning over and kissing my forehead

"Ok" I nodded reaching for the door handle

When I stepped out of the truck, I noticed that it wasn't my apartment buildings parking lot that he had parked in, looking up I saw Tanks house and watched as he ran up to the front door unlocking it.

"This isn't my apartment" I said to him when he jogged back to me

"No, I wanted to take care of you tonight but if you really want to I can take you home"

"Awww" I said my heart swelling "you really are a man of service aren't you. I don't care what the description of it says you give of yourself all the time"

I watched as Tank gave me a strange look "Stephanie what are you talking about, maybe I should call Bobby and have him come over and check you out just to be safe" he said taking his phone off his belt

"No" I said placing my hand over his stopping him from making the call "I'm ok you don't need to have Bobby come over, it's nothing really"

Tank looked at me for a minute, you could see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to decipher if I was really ok or not, finally putting his phone back onto his belt he cupped my cheek gently and ran his thumb over my sore jaw.

"When he hit you I saw red"

"Its ok it's just part of the job" I said

"Unfortunately yes in our job it is but a man should never hit a woman I don't care what's happened"

"I saw you on top of Scarzetti when I shook the cobwebs clear and Ranger trying to get you off"

Tank smiled "like I said when I saw him hit you I saw red and all I could think of was wanting him to hurt for hurting my girlfriend"

When Tank said girlfriend, I looked up into his eyes and saw nothing but certainty there. There were no hesitations or fillers when he said it just absolute honesty about how much I meant to him. Placing my arms around him as far as they would go I laid my good cheek onto his chest and closed my eyes basking in the warmth and love that was surrounding me.

"Steph"

"Yea?" I asked his words rumbling against my ear

"Let's go inside so you can lie down and rest and I can get you something for your head and jaw"

"All right" I said as I moved away from him and allowed him to guide me up to his front door

"I'm sorry Steph" Tank said stopping us when he opened the door. I looked over to him trying to figure out what he was apologizing for

"What's wrong?"

"I didn't want to have to do this because of your head but I have to turn the house lights on so you won't be tripping over cats when they come running"

"It's ok; I understand I wouldn't want to hurt them either by falling on one"

Tank flipped the switch and the little cats came running to see their daddy coming home. He bent down to lovingly pet them and told them all he would be with them in a minute just as soon as he helped me into his bed room. I smiled thinking how loving this man really was taking care of all of us. Tank placed an arm around my waist and led me down the hallway to his bed room. Once I was inside it I remembered the last time that I was here, it was an incredible night.

"Make yourself comfortable, I'll be right back I just need to do and get a few things" he told me as I sat on his soft bed kicking off the hot cowboy boots

While Tank was gone doing what he had to do, I stood up and undid the belt and slid it from around my waist, dropping it onto the floor. Next I unbuttoned my jeans and kicked them off followed by my shirt. I scooted back onto Tanks bed and thought about some of the things that we did when were in here together. When Tank came back into his room he was carrying a bag filled with ice and a bottle of Advil. I watched as he went over to his dresser and placed everything he had in his hands onto the dresser's top. Grabbing his shirt by the back of the neck he pulled and dropped the shirt onto the floor. I watched as his muscles worked while he was undoing his pants and immediately got hot. There is something about those muscles; I could watch them move all day every day.

"Ok" he said coming over and sliding into bed with me " take two of these" he said tapping two pills into my hand and handing me a small glass of water

"Its just Advil it will help with the swelling and the pain from the hit and probably the soreness you'll feel tomorrow from hitting the wall and the concrete"

"Thank you" I told him as I popped the pills in and swallowed them with a gulp of water

"And this" he said placing the zip lock baggy filled with ice onto my swollen cheek "should help with the swelling as well"

"Now I know what Julia was talking about in pretty woman when the guy hits her. She said men just know how to hit you across the face" I told him as I held the ice bag to my jaw. Tank moved so that his body lay against mine, he ran his fingers in soft touches across my hairline as I laid there and held the ice to my face.

"Did you see the faces on the guys when I came to you?" I asked after a while of holding the ice on my face

"I guess the cats; pardon the pun is out of the bag now"

"Yea I'm sorry, I know we never discussed how we were going to handle our relationship with Ranger and the guys but I just needed to have you hold me"

"Yea I know and I wanted to hold you too for my own benefit"

"I'm proud of you though you didn't hold back you openly opened your arms and held me in front of everyone you didn't even think twice"

"I told you I was going to work on being more open" he said cuddling me to him

"Yes you did"

"I think it's probably better they know now while it's still all so new than later and they feel left out" he said looking down at me

"Yea I hope your right"

Tank looked down at me, lowered his head and kissed me. When I moved to open my mouth to kiss him back I got a sharp pain reminding me that my jaw was injured.

"Owww"

"Oh God I'm sorry Steph" Tank said pulling back

"Its ok I really wanted to kiss you too but I guess it'll have to wait till my jaw feels better" I said sadly

Tank kissed me a soft kiss on my forehead "Then just rest I'm right here beside you" he said as I nodded my head, turned over on my side, and felt Tank spoon up to me. Tank placed his big hand over my bare stomach and began to rub patterns with his finger tips there. I closed my eyes thinking and praying that I would soon heal because the hands on that man were driving me crazy when ever they touched me.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 21

When I woke up my face was in a lot of pain. I opened my eyes and found out that during the night I had rolled over and used Tank who was on his back as my pillow. Propping up on my elbow, I looked over the man that was laid out before me. As I looked over his smooth chocolate skin I was amazed that a short time ago I knew nothing about him and was even scared of him, now however I couldn't imagine my life without him, talking to me, touching me, or kissing me. I am so in love with him. Looking over him some more, I guess he could sense that I was staring because he began to stir.

"Hi" I said as his eyes fluttered open

"Hi" he responded his hard body moving as he propped up on his elbow to face me

"How are you feeling?" Tank asked placing a palm onto my cheek

"Better, my headache is gone and my jaw only feels like a goose egg now. Last night it felt like a softball"

"Good" he said leaning closer to me "May I?" he asked looking from my lips to my eyes

"Please" I said as he claimed my mouth with his in a slow kiss

"Am I hurting you?"

"No" I told him. My jaw was still pretty sore but there was no way in hell I was going to stop Tank from kissing me. There is no telling when I will get this opportunity again today because of us having to go in to work soon.

As our kiss deepened, Tanks hand moved into my hair as he lowered me back down onto the bed, his body covering mine. Breaking away from each other because the need for air was to great Tank looked down on me. Taking the hand that was in my hair he placed the backs of his fingers on the skin of my forehead and traced around my hair line, down to my Jaw line with the lightest of touches to my shoulder where he removed my bra strap and kissed me there.

"You're an amazing woman Stephanie" he told me as he kissed up my shoulder, to my neck, then to my mouth

"No your amazing" I told him thinking of all that he had been through and how far he had come " I'm just kicking myself that I never got to know you like this sooner"

"You were scared of me but you still respected me and worked right along beside me"

"I trust all of you at RangeMan. I knew you would always be there for me and you wouldn't let anything happen to me and now that we happened to find each other like we have I feel it more now"

"I'll never let anyone hurt you and if they do get a chance to than I promise I will make them pay. I love you" Tank said which caught me by surprise. I knew I had blurted it out the other day to him but I don't remember him ever saying it to me. This was big.

"I love you too" I said rising up as far as I could with him laying over me and kissing him. I hoped in this kiss that he could feel just how much I really cared for and loved him.

Gently pushing me back onto the bed, Tank ran his hand down to lie on my waist. Lowering my panties over my hips, he came all the way over me and entered me filling me to the brim. This time our love making wasn't hurried like it was the last time we were together, this time it was all about committing to one another, being together, and truly loving each other completely. When we were done, Tank lovingly held me in his arms and gave me tender kissed further letting me know how much he loved me.

"I wish we never had to leave here" I told him running my hand over his chiseled chest

"Why's that?"

"When we are here we are free, you are free. You talk to me and hold me and kiss me here. When we tried at work you were nervous and we were always interrupted. Here there are no interruptions, no one to answer too, and no crisis's to fix"

"I think after what happened last night it will be easier now" Tank said and I looked up at him for a explanation " They all saw you come to me for comfort last night and I'm pretty sure they are smart enough to put two and two together. They don't know all that has been going on between us or for how long but they know something is going on"

"If they didn't then Ranger shouldn't have them at his company" I said knowing personally that each man at RangeMan had spectacular skills

"Exactly so with them knowing and will know by the end of the day it will be easier for us to be more open with each other but I will probably need reminding that it's ok to be since I've been this way for years"

"I'll gladly remind you" I said laying my head back onto his chest

"Tank?" I said as I laid there thinking about going into work today

"Yea?"

"Do you really think it's going to be ok at work? I mean they are probably talking about us and stuff"

"I think we will have a lot of questions to answer. They aren't used to seeing me doing anything except work so this will take some getting used to for them. Are you ok with what Ranger thinks or will say?"

"Ranger and I are special to each other but he shouldn't have anything to say about us getting together it's not like we are together. He's always told me his life didn't lend itself to relationships and lately we've just been more good friends than anything" I said toying with the edge of the sheet that covered Tanks waist

"Well I think it's going to be interesting when we go into work which by the way we need to start doing"

"Do we really have to?" I asked as he made the move to get up

"The faster we do this the faster it will be over" he said grabbing a clean uniform out of his dresser

"Awww" I whined falling to my back on his bed

"Come on" he said returning to the bed, crawling over me on all fours "I'll go take my shower and get ready then after that we will go over to your apartment where you can shower and get ready then we will ride in together" he said kissing my nose

"Ok" I said looking up at him. Tank lowered his head and kissed me, then crawled off the bed, took his things, and headed for the shower.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 22

The elevator in my apartment building opened and Tank and I got out and walked down my hallway to my door. I got my keys out of my bag and plugged them into my door, as I was turning the knob; Tank took a hold of my wrist shaking his head at me. Sighing I backed back and allowed him to do his thing.

Tank and I walked into my apartment and I made the mad dash to my bedroom to shower. As I ran through the apartment I called out to Tank to make himself at home while I got ready.

When I was done and had my uniform on, I went over to my bathroom mirror to inspect my face. Since being hit last night by Scarzetti this was the first time I actually looked at it.

"My God" I said turning my face sideways looking at the purple and black bruise on my upper cheek bone "Why didn't anyone tell me it was this bad?"

I took everything out that I had in my makeup basket and searched through it until I found some cover up and some liquid base make up, I was gonna be wearing a ton of makeup today but there was nothing I really could do about it. Swiping on the last coat of mascara, I spritzed on somebody spray and made my way out to Tank who to my horror had the love language book in his hand looking at it.

"I know I know you don't have to tell me, I have way to much make up on. I never realized how bad my cheek was until I just saw it" I told Tank as I sat down on the couch putting my socks and shoes on. I Watched as Tank sat the book onto the coffee table and turn his attention toward me.

"I think you look fine" he said removing a piece of hair that was caught in my earring

"Can you see it?" I asked turning my face to him. As I did I looked at the book and wondered how he found it since it was under my couch and what he thought about it when he read the cover.

"No not really but I know where it is and can tell if I really look at it"

"Ok" I said wanting to get out of there in case he wanted to ask about the book "I'm ready" I told him jumping up from the couch adjusting my pants legs "let me just give Rex some fresh water and some food"

"Ok"

I hurried into my kitchen and took Rex's water bottle out of his tank. I dumped the old stale water and refilled it with cold, clean, crisp water. When I returned it back to his cage my little guy came running over drinking like there was no tomorrow.

"Nice and cold huh?" I asked as he drank some more of the water

I bent down and retrieved his box of hamster crunchies that were kept under the sink. I filled his bowl and grabbed a grape and a baby carrot out of the fridge and dropped them into his cage for him as well. I watched as he stuffed his cheek and ran off into his soup can.

"You're welcome" I said as his little nub of a tail disappeared into the darkness of the can

"Stephanie" I heard behind me and turned to see Tank staring at me

"Are you ready it's been fifteen minutes" he told me

"Fifteen minutes?" I asked knowing watering and feeding Rex didn't take fifteen minutes. I realized I must have been standing there staring off into space thinking about what we were going to face when we got into work this morning, so much for wanting to hurry and leave to get him away from that book. I know if this was say Lester or Bobby I was seeing there would be a lot of jokes and some stupid comments but since it being Tank I really didn't know what would be done or said.

Everyone respected Tank and knew he was always loyal and have their back in all that they did but they also knew he was a loaner, someone that kept to themselves and didn't interact like the rest of them did. The only woman or relationship they ever knew of him having was that with Lula and how much Tank allowed them to know about that I don't know, but with me it's different. Everyone in the building knew of me as Ranger's girl even though we haven't done anything together in a while now. Also a lot of the guys at RangeMan love me or see me as their sister so to see me with a guy like Tank was probably a shock. Tank was able to be with Lula without it hurting or compromising his lifestyle but with me I'm involved and present in every aspect of his daily life and work. How this is going to work now I don't know.

"Yea" I guess I'm ready, everything is settled here" I said placing my arms around myself a move that didn't go un-noticed by Tank

"You ok?" he asked coming to stand in front of me

"I guess" I said looking up at him

Tank brought me into hid arms "scared?"

"Yea"

"Look if it makes you feel any better I'm still second in command and one they know not to really mess with so it probably won't be as bad as we think" he said rubbing my back

"Maybe" I said hoping he was right and they would be too scared to even ask " Let's get this over with" I said moving away from him, picking up my bag and cell phone, and walking to the door

When Tank and I coasted down the ramp at RangeMan butterflies began to flutter inside of my stomach. Placing a hand over it I took in and let out several deep cleansing breaths.

"Steph they're not going to kill us, they are our friends"

"Yea" I said feeling silly that I was this nervous and scared of my friends. Tank leaned over and kissed me, when he pulled back he smiled at me.

"Let's go we are already late" he said as he opened his door and got out

As we were on the elevator I counted the numbers as they lit up on the number pad over the door, I quickly looked over at Tank when the number five lit up and the car stopped. He had placed his blank face on the one that said don't mess with me and had a non nonsense air about him. How I wish I had that face for myself, I was a nervous wreck inside.

When the doors opened and we stepped out nothing happened. No one was waiting with a flashlight shinning it on us forcing us to talk. Everyone in the room acted the same as they would on any other given day. Guys were walking around and talking to each other, keyboards were being typed on, and the monitors were being watched. I looked over at Tank and he just shrugged telling me he didn't know either.

"See you for lunch?" he asked and I heard a little bit of relief in his voice

"yea I'd like that" I said locking eyes with him and giving him a warm smile feeling relief that I was worried for nothing it seems.

Tank and I separated so that he could go to his office and I could go to my cubby. When I walked passed a couple of guys that were on the distraction team they turned and watched as I walked passed. When I got in my cubby my cowboy hat that I was wearing last night was sitting on my desk with a note card that just read "Babe" on it. Picking up my hat, I placed it onto the floor beside me and when I sat back up Lester was standing in my door way. So this is how it's going to start.

"Lester" I said knowing the questions would begin

"So" he said as he sat down in the chair next to my desk

"So?"

"I kinda noticed last night after your incident with Scarzetti that you did something that wasn't quite the norm after a distraction"

"You mean when I went over to Tank instead of Ranger?"

"Yea, are you mad at Ranger did you all have a fight or something?"

"No"

"Then what's going on you've never not been with Ranger?" he asked

"If you must know Tank and I are seeing each other" I told him and his eyes went wide "I've gotten to know him and he is quite charming, nice, sexy, compassionate, and a very good cook"

"Tank?" Lester asked pointing his thumb over his shoulder towards Tank's office

"Tank what?" Cal asked as he walked by

"You're not going to believe this man" Lester said as Cal stopped and stood in the doorway to my cubby. Great double teamed.

"Looks like Beautiful and the big guy are seeing each other"

"Nooo" Cal exclaimed and I rolled my eyes getting annoyed. Why couldn't Tank have a relationship and why couldn't it be with me?

"Yea and get this she called him charming, compassionate, and sex.. Sex… damn I can barely say it sexy"

Cal looked at me and then over towards Tank's office "Compassionate, Charming? Him?" he asked as I stood up and saw Bobby and Hal surrounding Tank. He looked over at me and I grimaced at him telling him I was in the same boat as him. It looked like we were being flanked on all side by the core distraction team. I felt so sorry for Tank having to endure this because of me.

"Look" I said to the two idiots that stood before me "if you all took the time to get to know him like I did you might be surprised. If maybe you asked him out to drink with you all like you do sometimes you might find he is a pretty good friend"

"Beautiful you always were scared of Tank what's changed?"

"I don't know" I lied knowing it was me reading my book and wanting to find out what love language Tank was since he was so quiet and no one seemed to know much about him.

Lester and Cal looked at each other "Beautiful" Lester said leaning closer to me "I know you have been here a couple of years and you know us pretty well but Tank doesn't do drinks or allow anyone to get to close to him"

"That's not true" I said getting upset. I had seen the real Tank and knew for a fact that he wasn't like they were saying. Yes that's how he has been for years and years but he has changed.

"Ok Bomber" Cal said

"You all don't believe me that he's more open now and loving?" I asked looking between the two of them

"Bomber it's just we know him better than you"

"OK, excuse me" I said stepping between them

"Bomber, Beautiful" I heard them say as I walked down the hall towards Tank

Tank was still standing talking to Bobby and Hal; I don't think he had even made it into his office yet. He looked as frustrated as I felt as I talked to Lester and Cal. Walking up to them; I pushed my way between the two large men and stood in front of Tank who looked down at me. Hal, Cal, Bobby, and Lester moved around us watching intently, I watched as Tanks eyes filled with warmth when he looked at me. Taking his hand he placed his fingers under my chin and kissed me. When he did I heard loud gasps from our interrogation team and then whistles from the other guys on the floor when we broke apart.

"Babe, Tank I'd like to see you in my office" Ranger said and I hung my head as I looked over and saw that he had seen our little show in the middle of the command room floor. This so wasn't turning out like I had thought since we weren't bombarded when we stepped off the elevator. I guess the fears I had earlier in my kitchen were turning out to be true.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 23

Giving a look to the guys that were standing around us, Tank and I walked away from them and moved towards Ranger's office. As we walked what felt like the last mile of the way no one said a word, you could hear a pin drop in the office.

Being called into and walking to Ranger's office made me feel like I was being called or sent to the principal's office when I was in school after I had been caught doing something stupid. I had the exact same feeling of doom now as I did then. I slowly walked behind Tank and hoped that if I made myself small enough behind him, I wouldn't be called out and punished.

"Shut the door" I heard Ranger say from where he sat behind his desk

As I turned to shut the door, Tank moved away from me and sat down in one of the visitor chairs thus exposing me. I was wide open, my cover blown.

"Babe" Ranger said

"I'm sorry for doing something so stupid" I blurted out quickly turning around still being caught up in my memory of being in my principal's office. Ranger and Tank looked at me both giving me a strange look.

"Excuse me, Stupid?" Tank asked and I shook my head to clear the thoughts of school out of my head

"Babe have a seat"

I slowly walked over and took the seat that was next to Tank. Tank leaned over and asked me if I thought kissing him was stupid now and I could see the hurt in his eyes and hear it in his voice. Not caring that we were sitting in Ranger's office or in front of him, I placed my hand onto Tank's cheek.

"No" I sighed "that's not what I meant at all. It is certainly not stupid for you to kiss me in fact I wanted it and I loved it. I was just caught up in the feeling that I was being sent to the principal's office that I blurted out what I usually said to him to try and save me from my mom being called. I'm sorry it wasn't you that I was talking about" I told him and Tank seemed to accept my explanation because he pecked me on the lips.

"Do I need to remind you two that this is a professional work place?" Ranger said cutting into our moment

"No" Tank answered

"This is a professional organization. It is bankrolled by me. It has my name on it, my money, and my reputation attached to it. Is this going to be a problem?" he asked moving a long Cuban finger back and forth between me and Tank

"No it is not" Tank said glaring at Ranger like he had really just been insulted. I knew Tank would never allow us to make his or my work suffer; Ranger should and probably knows better. "Stephanie and my work will always be on the up and up. What we have between us will never come between our work and the company reputation. We will always deliver the quality that you have always got from us in the past"

"See to it that it does" Ranger said opening a folder and taking a pen up that he had laying on his desk. Tank nudged me and nodded his head towards the door; I was relieved that I didn't have to say anything about my actions. When I stood up and began walking with Tank to the door, Ranger spoke.

"Babe I'd like for you to stay" he said never looking up from what he was doing. I looked up to Tank and he just gave me a sorry smile as he walked out of the office closing the door behind him.

I walked back to the chair that I was sitting in as Tank and Ranger talked and sat down. Watching as Ranger read over the file that he was looking at the silence in the office was deafening and I just wish he would say something or better yet let me leave. Ranger signed his name on the bottom of the file and closed it; he then stood up and came to sit on the end of his desk where I was sitting.

"Babe what's going on?" he asked me

"What do you mean?"

"That little show out there, since when did you and Tank become an item?"

"I don't know a few days ago I guess and before you say how let me tell you that I find him lovable, compassionate, sexy, and a great cook"

"Steph I wasn't going to ask how you could love him. In case you have forgotten I have known Tank the longest here. He is my second in command and my best friend. He watches my back and I trust him with my life. He deserves to be with someone that understands and cares for him as I know you can and do" he said and I was floored.

I thought Ranger was going to be like Cal and Lester when they laughed and told me that Tank wasn't what I told them he was or be jealous in seeing me with someone else but he wasnt; he had always told me we couldn't have a relationship. "What I want to know is what made you? You were always scared of him and he was the only guy that you didn't get close to like the others"

"I don't know it just happened one day that I decided to get to know him better" I lied. I knew exactly what it was. It was the book I had bought and read. I remember sitting in the kitchen looking at the guys walking by and saying what I thought was their language, some were easy and some where hard and when Tank walked by he was very hard so I set out to make it my goal to find out and fell in love with him along the way.

"Babe" Ranger said letting me know he wasn't buying it "You can't fool me I just saw the answer fly across your face as you sat there and thought about it

"Just between you and me?" I asked knowing he would keep what I told him in strictest confidence but I just needed for him to say so

"Of course Babe"

"A book" I said

"A book?"

"I bought a book because I hadn't had a real good relationship in a long time and I thought maybe a little self help would help it change. A woman suggested this book and I bought it and read it. The book is call the Five Love Languages it is geared to married couples but it also can be beneficial to daters" I told him

"Go on"

"You read about the languages and figure out what you are and what the person you're with or seeing is and you talk their love language so that they feel special and loved and they in turn are to talk your love language. It's a way to open up communication and have a deep and meaningful relationship with the one you love"

"And you figured out Tanks and started talking his?" he asked trying to understand

"No not exactly. I came to work after spending all night reading the book. I was exhausted so I was in the kitchen drinking coffee. When the guys were out on the floor I got to labeling them with the language that I thought was theirs, some are just obvious and some I couldn't figure out"

"What are the languages?"

"Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch" I spouted off to him knowing them by heart

"Did you figure me out?" he asked

"Yes"

"What am I?"

"I believe your Love Language is Physical Touch" I told him and watched as a sly grin came across his face

"No it isn't just about that, it also consist of holding hands, back rubs, kissing, hugging, and the touches that you seemed to always do when you were in my presence" I told him

"It also means too that if I'm in a crisis I'd always just know the touch and feel more comfortable with the touch of the person I most cared about"

"So what is Tank according to the languages you're talking about?" he asked me

"I don't know" I said and got a confused look from Ranger

"While I was sitting in the kitchen analyzing your men, Tank walked by and blew me out of the water. I don't know what made him tick because he was always so closed off and never let anything about him slip out and as you pointed out I was scared of him so I never got to close to him like I did with Lester and the others, so after watching him for a while and trying hard to decode him I planned a little experiment"

"Experiment?"

"Yes, I was going to take each language and use it to get Tank to talk and find out what he could be but as I went along doing the experiment I started having feelings for Tank and well those feelings have evolved into what you have been witnessed too" I said

"Babe" Ranger said and I looked up at him perched on the corner of his desk

"Yea?"

"What's wrong?" he asked of my sudden quietness

"I just heard that and it just sounded awful of me didn't it?"

"No, but I think you should tell Tank before he finds out on his own. He is a proud man and it would hurt him to know he was just an experiment to you and he may pull away and not open up again and it would hurt you because of something harmless making you lose what you love and care about" he told me and I nodded my head

"How far have you gotten on Tank?" He asked

"I've gotten to Language number four and I'm leaning heavily on Acts of Service as his but not what the description the book said but because of his military service and how he devotes his time and self to RangeMan and how he makes sure I'm taken care of"

"Good, sounds just like him" Ranger said "Babe go and make things right with Tank. I'm happy for the both of you if this is what is to be" he said and kissed me on the forehead

"Thanks" I said giving him a smile and got up to walk out the door.

As I walked down the hall to find Tank I was silently praying that what I needed to reveal to him wouldn't stop what we had and Tank would see that what's was an experiment at first turned out to help us find each other and love each other. Turning the corner of some of the cubicles I saw Tank standing there with Woody going over something on the computers.

"Can I talk to you?" I asked when he looked over at me

"Sure give me five minutes and come to my office" he said giving me a soft warm smile. Nodding I walked off to find something to do to occupy my time for the next few minutes.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 24

Standing outside Tanks office door, I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. Did I really want to go in there and reveal that all of this that we have came from a book and I used it to find out what made him tick? I looked down the hall to the right of me and saw Ranger's office door, I didn't really have to tell Tank if I didn't want to but Ranger knew and I know he know even though I know he would never tell anyone my secret. But Ranger did bring up a good point that maybe I should tell Tank before he finds out on his own on down the road and that was a good possibility since he had seen the book in my apartment.

"Stephanie" I heard and turned around to the voice and saw amazing brown eyes staring back at me

"Huh?" I said lost in Tanks eyes

"Aren't you going to come in and talk to me?"

"Ohh, yea" I said as Tank let me into his office

"Are you ok?" he asked closing the door to his office and coming to kneel in front of me as I sat in one of his extra chairs

"You know what I just remembered a report that I have to get to Ranger and I know you have a lot of work to do too so maybe we should both just do our work" I sat chickening out and getting up and walking to his door

As I put my hand to the lever of his door and pulled a dark hand came up and held the door closed stopping my escape. I felt a strong hot body move in behind me and move the hair from me neck.

"You're stalling and making me uneasy. What's up?" he asked as he kissed my neck making my legs go weak

I moaned as he effortlessly pinned me to the door. I really wanted to get out of there but this was making it harder to do so.

"Steph"

"Huh?"

"Turn around" he said and I did as he asked

Tank ran his finger across my cheek and bent down to kiss me. He seemed so happy as he freely showed his affection to me. When he pulled back I knew exactly what he was then gonna say.

"Now what did you want to talk to me about and why have you changed your mind all of the sudden?" he asked looking down at me

Tears filled my eyes and Tanks eyes filled with worry. I just knew when I told him about the book and doing my little experiment on him there was a good chance that Tank could get really pissed off and break all ties with me intimately and friendship wise. Coving my face with my hands, I planted it into his chest.

"Did Ranger say something?' he asked a dark edge coming into his voice

"No" I shook my head

"Steph what is it?"

"I need to tell you something but I don't know how too"

"Just tell me. You know you can open up to me and talk to me about anything"

"Ok" I said looking up at him

Tank took my hand and leads me over to one of his chairs. He then grabbed the other one so that when he sat down he was touching my knees with his. Taking some of his fingers he lifted my chin up to face him.

"Tell me" he softly said wiping the tears off my cheek

"I love you" I said and he smiled "I really do"

"I love you too"

Taking a deep breath I began "Have you ever heard of the five love languages?"

"No but wasn't that the name of the book I found at your place?"

"Yea" I sighed

"What is it?"

"A couple months ago I'd been in a big dry spell with men. Joe and I haven't seen each other in ages and Ranger was always in the wind or just not available on the level that I wanted or needed. I was really frustrated" I said and my cheeks starting to feel warm

"Believe me I understand that" Tank said and I guess he would understand about being frustrated and needing it taken care of but having no one to scratch that itch.

"Early one morning I left my apartment after again getting really frustrated" I was not going to tell him about the dreams of him "and drove to the bonds office but it was too early for it to be opened so I went over to the book store to look around and see if anything caught my attention. While I was browsing the stacks of books, I came to the self help section and thought why not? Maybe something there would help me in the dead relationship department"

"Ok"

While I was reading the titles of the books this woman told me about the book The Five Love Languages. She said it really helped her and her husband to communicate and open up better and that they've never felt more close, special, or loved"

"You bought the book"

"Yea, I thought that was what I've always wanted when I'm with a guy. To be deeper and be more meaningful than the ones I've "been in"" I said to him "I mean I'm not getting any younger so I want the person that I'm with at the time to be special"

"So what are these Languages?" Tank asked

"Well you find out what yours is and then you find out what your partners is and then you speech each other's Language. When you do your partner feels loved and special because you really care to do it and get them"

"OK so what are they?" he asked again

"Words of affirmation, Quality time, Receiving of Gifts, Acts of Service" I said and Tanks eyes grew wide "and Physical Touch"

"You said the other night after you were hit about me being Acts of Service, have you been using these things on me?" he asked and I went silent

"Stephanie"

"Yes" I said tears filling my eyes


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 25

Tank let go of my hands and went over to stand next to his office window. I myself have stood by a window or grabbed a beer and sat on my fire escape to think when facing life's problems. Watching the large man dressed in black, I got up and stood in front of him.

"So this was just all a big game to you?"

"No" I told him knowing how hurt this must be making him to think that I toyed with him

"I read the book all night, I couldn't put it down. When I came in the next morning I was exhausted all I wanted was coffee. I went into the kitchen and made me a cup, as I sat there hoping the fog would lift I saw some of the guys walk by. I started looking at them and choosing what language I believed them to be, like I know Lester has to be physical touch and Hal words of affirmation and so on" I explained

Tank didn't respond so I went on "I sat there thinking that this maybe a two cup morning when you walked on to the floor. I watched you for a few minutes and started wondering what your language could be. I ran each language and its meaning through my head but came up blank where you was concerned and that's what started my whole experiment to find out what made you tick and what you could be"

"So you had no feelings for me, I was just an experiment?" he asked turning his dark eyes on me

"That's not entirely true" I said turning from him, this was embarrassing

"Steph don't stop now"

"I've had dreams" I told him

"Dreams?"

"Yes, before and after I bought the book"

"What type of dreams?" he asked

"Dreams of you… Touching me, kissing me, making love to me"

"When I came into work and saw you after my dreams I got all nervous to be around you because I felt like somehow you knew about them but I had to constantly remind myself there was no way you could know that I dreamed of you. I watched you and wondered exactly what your hands could do to me if they ever touched me, so during my experiment of getting closer to you, I was always screaming inside of my head how I wanted you. To be honest the experiment fell by the wayside after I came over to your house and saw and got to know the real you"

I watched as Tank crossed his arms tighter around his chest. I could just feel him reverting back to his old self and closing down. I really wished he wouldn't he had came along way to get what he had been wanting after years and years of self imposed isolation and loneliness. I walked back over to him and placed a hand onto his arm.

"I know this has hurt you and I'm sorry but I have fallen in love with you, the real you the one that hold me, makes love to me, who's a great cat dad, and an awesome cook. I've fallen in love with that scrawny little boy on your living room wall and the man in the pictures on your bedroom wall that gave himself to fight for this country and help the poor and desolate. Please don't shut down and shut me out" I pleaded but he didn't say anything

"I still love you" I said placing a kiss onto his arm and leaving his office

I staggered myself down to Rangers office but found it empty. I was going to tell him that I did as he suggested and now I'm alone, walking back out into the hallway I bumped into Lester.

"Ranger here?" I asked him

"No he went to meet a client" he said and I nodded my head that I understood "Beautiful are you ok?"

"No" I told him and went into the bathroom

After a good cry and getting my face back in order, I returned back to my desk and threw myself into some work. I would glance at Tanks door and feel a pang of hurt shoot through my heart but would shake it off and get back to work. After a while Ranger returned and I went into his office.

"What's going on Babe? I called in when I was on my way back and Santos said something was wrong with you"

"I told Tank and came clean about the book and experiment"

"And by your demeanor and the tear tracks on your face I take it he didn't take it so well"

"Yep" my eyes filling again

Ranger came around from his desk and placed his arms around me and held me to him. I guess I'll have to go back to receiving comfort from him again and not from the one I truly would like too. While being held in Rangers arms a sinister thought crossed my mind and I looked up to Ranger to see if I could get the truth.

"You telling me to tell Tank wasn't some sick twisted jealousy thing you came up with to keep me to yourself was it?" I asked watching his face closely

"Babe I admit that I am a mercenary and I get what I want when I want it but all this time I've known you I have been up front with you on how it works with me. I won't do relationships but an occasional sexual encounter would be nice but relationships no. I wouldn't stand in your way of having and finding happiness if that is what you wanted even though it would pain me" he said and I believed him

"I love him"

"I know"

"I just don't want him to throw us away and revert back to the way he was. He has accomplished so much, he wanted to have what others have and he did"

"Babe" Ranger said "go back to your cubby and leave everything to me"

"No I don't want you to do anything and cause a war" I said shaking my head

"You won't, Tank and I have been friends for a very long time, trust me" he said letting me go and walking out of his office


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 26

I sat sulking in my cube, my mind was swirling with worry on what Ranger could be saying to Tank and if there would be a fight between them. Ranger and Tank were to major power houses and if they came to blows it would shake the very foundation that RangeMan sat on. I've told both of them that I didn't want to come between them and that is exactly how I felt even though each has promised me otherwise.

"Beautiful" an out of breath Lester called to me as he ran into my cubby

"What?" I asked wondering what had him so amped up

"There is something you should see" he told me

"Les now's not a good time for any of your jokes or one of you adventures"

"Nooo you'll really want to see this" he said

"Les" I said in protest again but found myself being yanked out of my chair and dragged down the hall and into the monitor room

"Sit" Lester commanded and I was about to tell him that I wasn't some dog that he could push around but stopped when I heard Rangers voice come in over a speaker. Scanning over the screens on the bank of monitors, Les finally had pity on me and showed me the screen of the conference room. Looking closely at it I saw Tank walking around the long table dropping folders and pens at each chair obviously getting ready for a meeting, Ranger stood watching him leaning up against the door jamb.

"What's up?" Ranger asked Tank

"Getting ready for out meeting"

"Cut the bullshit you know what I mean. I don't ask questions that I don't already know the answer too"

"Then you know" Tank said

I held my breath as the two men fell silent and a standoff began. I looked over at Lester but all he did was rub my shoulder trying to comfort me.

"Look man" Ranger said finally breaking the silence "Steph.." he began to say but Tank stopped him by holding up his hand the next thing I saw was Tank reaching into his pocket and bringing something small out of it. He then aimed the little thing at me and then the screen went snowy.

"NOOO DAMMITT" I called out hitting the button on the keyboard to make it come back on

"Sorry Beautiful, I had a feeling that was going to happen"

"Shit" I said leaning back in the chair

(Inside the conference room)

"Good now?" Ranger asked seeing his friend pocket the little gizmo

"Like I've said before too many eye and ears here"

Especially two beautiful blue eyes?" he asked and Tank stopped what he was doing for a beat and then resumed placing the folders and pens at each chair

"Man just cut this bullshit; Steph didn't mean to hurt you"

"It was a game. I never meant anything to her" he said and the words of her telling him of her dreams came back as he said it

"She cares about all of us, she has always had feelings for you" Ranger pointed out

"No she was always scared of me"

"And that's the way you've always wanted it right? You have always wanted people to fear you and you made sure of it too"

Tank glared over ay Ranger.

"So she went to a bookstore and got a self help book and used it, that's what they're for. She did not maliciously intend to hurt you. She did not wake up and say I'm going to mess with Tank and hurt him today. She was just going through what she learned in the book and labeling us all but you never letting anyone in she couldn't read and that intrigued her. You know of her curiosity and how it gets her into messes that we can only shake our heads at"

"You're one to stand there and be lecturing me" he said calling Ranger out on his own closed off ways

"You're right I too don't allow anyone in that is until Stephanie. She has gotten closer than anyone and I fell hard for her but I can't or won't give her what she needs and what she wants and needs she for some reason wants that from you"

"I know you love her, I can see it. I don't know all the details of all the stuff you and her have but I can tell you've changed some and she is very proud of that fact. That's what she does, changes us if she means too or not and I know she doesn't want you to revert and close off again. You need her we all do she makes us all a little bit happier in our dark dreary lives and you have a chance to be with her and she wants you, you should be so honored"

"Where is she?" Tank asked letting out a breath

"Her cubby. I sent her there when she came to tell me how you reacted to the news of the book"

"Tell her to come in here that I would like to talk to her?"

"Yes I will but know this, if you don't fix whatever is between you and her I'll be seeing you on the mats you know the rules" Ranger said and Tank nodded his head

(End over Ranger and Tanks convo)

After Tank pulled the plug on the monitor, I went back to my cubby and nervously sat and waited. I was dying to know what was being said and what was going on in that room. While I was in my thoughts a hand settled itself on to my shoulder.

"Babe" I heard and looked over to see Ranger kneeling next to me

"Soo?" I asked looking him over to see if there was any bruises pr split lips, seeing none I relaxed just a little.

"Your boyfriend wants you to come see him"

"Is he still in the conference room?" I asked letting it slip that I had been eavesdropping

Ranger smiled "You know they saw curiosity killed the cat Babe but yes he is still in there"

"Babe?" Ranger asked when I didn't immediately get up and he saw me hesitating "Go to him Babe" he urged combing through my curls

Taking in a big breath I stood letting it out slowly. I began to run my own fingers through my hair and smooth down my clothes. It wasn't because I needed to it was more along the lines of a nervous twitch. Stepping out of my cube I looked back over to Ranger who smiled back at me.

"Thank you" I said not entirely sure if there would be something to be thanking him for

"Not a problem" he said and I turned and began making my way to the conference room.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 27

I slowly walked into the conference room, Tank I saw was sitting in the head chair the one that Ranger sits in or stands behind when he is addressing the men. As I stood there watching him, I was suddenly struck just how small I was compared to him.

"Ranger said you wanted to see me?" I told him as he studied me

Tank didn't say anything which worried me, all he did was scoot his chair back and stand up. I watched as he came around the table and opened his arms up to me, feeling my heart stop and then start again after seeing he was accepting me, tears fell as I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. As I felt his arms come around me and hold me to him there was no other place that I wanted to be then right here in the arms of the man I loved.

"I'm sorry" I heard him say as he held me to his body

"What for?" I asked. The last I knew was that I was the one that had screwed everything up not him. Tank had nothing to be sorry for.

"For blowing up about how our relationship started. I went back to my old ways so that I wouldn't feel the hurt or deal with the issue"

"It's ok, if the shoe was on the other foot I'm sure I wouldn't like it if I was told I was someone's experiment"

"I'm really sorry and I love you I just hope you still love me" I told him as I looked up at him

"I do love you Stephanie"

"Do you hate me?"

"No of course not" he told me and lifted my chin up with his fingers. Tank lowered his mouth to mine and gently began to kiss me. When he pulled back he laid his forehead against mine and looked into my eyes.

"You really had dreams of me?" he asked and I could feel my cheeks grow warm

"Yes, like I told you I hadn't been with anyone in a long time and I was really frustrated so when I went to bed one night I dreamed that you were in my bedroom in my bed making love to me. Your big hands sliding up my leg, my hip, and your mouth on mine" I told him as I placed my lips on his

Tank turned us around as we kissed and sat me on to the conference table, his hands un-tucking my shirt and pushed it up to cup my breast as he deepened the kiss.

"What else?" he asked clearly turned on and wanting more fuel for his fire

"Well during the time we were watching the building, when I was trying to get the wire off when Santos butted into our conversation, you touched me you got me all hot and bothered"

"Goddd" Tank growled out as he lowered me down onto the table and I was pretty sure we were fixing to do it in the RangeMan conference room "You don't know what you did to me then"

"Oh I think I can figure it out" I said as he pressed his body into mine and crashed his mouth to mine

"AHEM!" we heard and looked over to see the guys all standing there with their eyes large and they're mouths open

Oh no this isn't good I thought as Tank stood up and helped me to stand. I yanked my shirt down and hurried to tuck it back into my pants. As I looked over to Tank I just knew he was gonna feel like the guys were gonna make fun of him now and that he allowed a private moment of his be seen. I anticipated and held on waiting for him to blow and lay into the men. To my amazement though and probably to the guys, Tank turned to me, ran a finger down my cheek, and caused me to nervously hold my breath when he turned towards the guys.

"Eat your heart out" he said shocking me and making me gasp as he yanked me to him and claimed my mouth in a deep tongue battling kiss

"Ok that's enough we have a meeting to attend too" We heard Ranger say

When Tank and I pulled away from each other, I didn't know what to say I was just flabbergasted that he hadn't torn the heads off each man standing there.

"I'm so proud of you" I quietly said to him and I really was. Tank was open about how he felt and he wasn't gonna hide that from anyone anymore. He allowed the guys to see it and he also was a little playful something no one has seen a lot of, who knew. I looked at all the guys and they were just as shocked at his transformation as I was.

"You two ok now?" Ranger asked as he came up to the head of the table

"Yea"

"Good now that we got that out of our systems take your seats the meeting is starting"

"Come over after work and we'll have dinner and talk some more ok?"

"Ok, I'll bring dinner" Tank told me and kissed me on the forehead as we parted ways for the meeting

Around six o'clock a knock came to my door, smiling because I knew who it was, I peeped out of my peephole just in case.

"Hi" I said opening the door to Tank

"Hey, I got dinner where do you want it?"

"Coffee table will be just fine" I said eyeing the familiar white plastic bag with the yellow smiley face on it

Tank sat the bag down onto my coffee table that sat in front of my second hand couch. I knew exactly what he had decided to bring and was eagerly watching for him to begin taking out the little white boxes that held heaven from the orient but he didn't. Confused that he wasn't continuing I watched as he left the bag, came to me, wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me.

"Mmmm" I moaned as we pulled away

"I love being able to do that" he said

"Me too"

I took my arms down that I had placed around his neck and took his hand to lead him over to the couch to dig into the scrumptious goodness that he had brought. As I sat down and got comfortable, I patted the seat Cushing next to me indicating that I wanted Tank to sit down. As he did I took the book that I had been reading out from behind one of my throw pillows.

"I wanted to show you this" I told him looking at the book that sat in my lap

"All right" he said and I let out a sigh, here goes

"This is the book that I read" I said handing it over to him "the languages that I've been talking about start at chapter four"

"The Five Love Languages, how to express heartfelt commitment to your mate" he said reading over the front cover of the book "Humph I never knew there were such things" he said reading over the back cover

"Me neither until the lady at the bookstore suggested it to me"

"Well how did you do it?" he asked and I took the book back to show him

"Well like I've said I was drinking coffee and saw some of the guys walk by and I began labeling them with the languages that I thought fit them" I said flipping through the pages of the book looking for the first Language " Sooo when you came by I found you to be a challenge"

"Ok" Tank said grinning because he knew why

"Ok so this is how I did it. I started with Language number one which is Words of Affirmation. I would read what it meant and then read the suggestions it had for the language. It old me that this language the tongue has the power of life and of death, that an anxious heart weighs a man down but a kind work cheers him up. It old me to use encouraging words, kind words, and humble words. While I was doing this first language on you, you were doing so well until Les butted in and I had forgotten that I was still wired and broadcasting" I said and watched as his eyes darkened with the memory of Lester

"You did that with the other ones too?"

"Yea basically. The next one was Quality Time and that is when I asked you over for…"

"The movie and pizza?" he asked

"Yea. At that time I knew I had a crush on you but that night when you revealed to me that I was the other thing besides your cats that made you happy, I can't tell you how happy that made me feel"

Tank smiled "Go on" he said wanting to actually hear more

"The next one I did was a hard one for me even though the book said it was the easiest of all the languages"

"What is it?"

"Receiving Gifts. I had no clue what to get you and I wandered the mall for hours. As you know I ended up at your house cat gifts and melty ice cream"

"And almost got yourself killed in the process"

"Yea but that night I learned about a little boy that lost his mom and was abused but turned his circumstances around and became a big, strong, honorable man that I see sitting here with me now. I fell in love with the man who served overseas defending our freedoms and helping those who can't help themselves. I fell in love with the man who lives each day by the Army Core Values that I read on a card in his bedroom after that amazing night we had" I told him and he leaned in and kissed me

"I love you" he said stroking my cheek

"I love you and am in love with you and I want you to know that really at this point I was done with my experiment, it just didn't seem to matter anymore since we came together and opened up to one another so I placed it on the back burner until I saw the book when I was changing for the distraction. I tossed it aside thinking I didn't need it anymore until a thought came to me that I hadn't found you language and so I couldn't stop I had to finish my mission" I explained to him. He should understand he knows what it's like to have a job and seeing to the very end.

"Ok so what was next?"

"Acts of Service" I told him "I think this is your Love Language because of all the service you have preformed for the military and all that you do for RangeMan and how you take care of me and make sure I'm all right but that doesn't go along with the description of the language in the book"

"What is it?" he asked

"It described like you mow your lawn, cook meals, set the table, and do house chores and if that is your language than that's what I'm to do to show that I understand you and love you"

"Hmmm. So you think I'm Acts of Service?"

"Yes I believe so. You give of yourself all the time"

"So what are you?" Tank asked me

"That I'm not real sure on, maybe the first one because it really means a lot and I liked when Ranger would praise me and tell me I can do this job when everyone else dogs me and my abilities"

"You won't ever have to wait on Ranger to believe in you anymore" Tank said and I felt my insides turn to liquid at his promise

"Well" I said getting my emotions in check "that's what I did with my "experiment"" I said putting the air quotes around the word experiment

"But" he said knitting his brows together "That's only four languages you said there was five"

"I never got to the last one" I told him

"Which is?" he asked

"Physical Touch" I told him and saw Tank smile

"It doesn't just mean that"

"Well whatever it means you don't have to worry about that one I think we have gotten that one covered" he said kissing me and then taking the book from me

"What are you doing?" I asked as he scooted over to the far corner of my couch, opened his legs, and patted the cushion between his legs

"Come here"

I scooted over to Tank and sat my back to his front. I felt him moving behind me and then a pair of chopsticks and one of the little white boxes came into my sight. Looking down at the food I looked over my shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I asked

"We are going to eat as we read the book that changed my life and brought us together and we are also going to find out your language and then do our own experimenting" he said bringing his arms around me and opening the book up to chapter one

"Ohhh?"

"Yea we are going to experiment with the last Language.. ALOT" He told me and his eyes darkened as he looked at me. I got exactly what he was saying.

"Well I say start reading!" I said as I snuggled into his as we ate and read

THE END!

A/N Thank you all sooooo much for all the reviews and kind words and emails that I got during this story. I truly hope that you enjoyed Tank as much as I have and I hope that you all will take the time to find out your own Love Language and let me know what they are. If you do want to tell me just pm me through FFNet because I delete emails from things and people that I don't know. Can't wait to hear from some of you! Again THANK YOU!

I have several ideas on a new story so ill start posting it as I get my head clear and my notes together. Can't make my mind up if I want to do a Ranger or another MM.

Love you all!

Karren


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